Dear Wallflower – Poetry and Prose is a collection of poetry covering a variety of thoughts and feelings. I’ve always been someone who respects the art of poetry but has never delved into reading collections. Sara Secora has now given me a thirst for this expressive art form, to the extent I’m seeking out other such collections.
In Dear Wallflower, Sara Secora expresses some of her innermost thoughts and feelings through a series of double entendres and metaphors. Many of the poems include images and/or sketches to give them some extra flair. Sometimes the poems are enhanced by the illustration, but for the most part each of these poems stands on their own.
Some of the different feelings conveyed in Dear Wallflower include love, pain, isolation, being misunderstood, and being uplifted. My favourite poems in this collection are the ones where Sara expresses that it’s okay to be different. It’s okay to daydream. It’s okay to believe that dragons exist because if we are real, then so are dragons. I would show examples of such poems but it feels like a disservice to post them here. These poems need to be experienced within the whole collection for their true weight to be felt.
The biggest takeaways one can gain from reading the poems in Dear Wallflower are: be the person you want to be unapologetically, love who you want to love, know that sometimes love can be brutal, embody your pain and use it as art — and uplift those you care about when their light is dim. As someone suffering with chronic illness, some of these themes deeply resonated with me.
The most appealing part of Secora’s writing for me in her previous works has been her prose. Dear Wallflower is a book that focuses entirely on this strongest trait of hers. This was the perfect project for her to produce as the combination of poetry and prose allowed her to put her full writing prowess on display. I would say that Dear Wallflower is now the best entryway into Secora’s writing, before diving into her Amethysta series.
Dear Wallflower will release on February 17th but you can pre-order it today on Amazon.
