Thank you, Plum White Press, for the advance reader's copy. This, in any way, does not affect my review of the book.

In the Dark, Soft Earth is as refreshing of a read as it is seductive and enchanting. It is a compilation of poems exploring the beauty of nature, art, love, and self-reflection. Frank Watson manages to passionately paint a picture without overdoing it.

What I like about it is the incorporation of real paintings and even tarot cards as inspiration for his poems. I found that most of the entries I bookmarked and highlighted are mostly the ones about nature infused with romance. One of my faves:

duet

what is heaven
without a taste
of hell?

the scene is set
the curtains drawn--
it's time for our duet

it's easy to begin
but harder than sin
to stay until the end

woman of earth
and mountains
clay and fire--
I will stay
through all the seasons

In the Dark, Soft Earth will be released this coming July 7!

I loved that the poet shared the inspiration behind many of the poems including works of art to go along with them. The poems were lyrical, haunting, and atmospheric. This was a collection that I enjoyed reading.

Art and poetry combine to describe desire and love and sensuality.

I read this book as an egalley, and I have to admit that the formating, or lack thereof did sometimes impact my enjoyment of the text.

Overall, I enjoyed the description and the rhythm of the poems in this book. Some worked very well for me, and others I found myself flipping past and for me personally, they didn't connect. I did love the connection to nature and love and emotion, much of the imagery was vivid and appreciated. Overall I would consider it a good addition to poetry collections, particularly those that deal with nature or romantic topics.

This poetry collection was very soft and beautiful and had gorgeous art pieces mixed in which was a nice surprise!

Giving this a fair 3 stars as it wasn't anything to write home about but it also wasn't bad at all!

Broken into 10 books (or parts/chapters) that count as a sort of theme for the poems we have a lot of different topics that the poet explores.
I did find the quantity a bit overwhelming and unfortunately I didn't really connect at all to any of the poems; I didn't feel moved or particularly fond of many. Only a few stood out to me a little (those being "Leaf After Leaf I'm the Pure Wind", "apparition", "prayer" and "Little Red Peach").

There was a line in a poem called "Isolde", where it said ''everywhere she looks there are more eyes staring back at her" and it freaked me out a bit because I could see my eyes suddenly in my tablet, whilst reading at that exact moment!

I enjoyed the art work dotted throughout, although sometimes it felt unrelated, although it's reference may have just gone over my head. It was a bit of a shock though as I started this on my lunch break and didn't expect to see a lot of nude art work.

Anyway, unfortunately this wasn't the poetry collection for me. That being said, I don't read a lot of poetry, so someone with more experience my take more away from this collection than I could.

I give In the Dark, Soft Earth by Frank Watson 3 stars for its dreamlike imagery and open lyric style. As one who enjoys classical themes in contemporary poetry, I appreciated Mr. Watson’s connection to romantic and eternal subjects in his many earthbound poems, and his examination of antique to medieval characters in Book Eight’s tarot-inspired poems. This was my first encounter with Watson’s writing and I found it very accessible for those new to contemporary poetry, drawing on familiar experiences and with the occasional rhyming phrase. However, as I worked my way through the entire collection, I felt the tone and tempo became somewhat repetitive. I would begin a new book within the book hoping to be surprised by a different rhythm and pattern of expression, but encountered more of the same. Overall, it was a calming, pleasant read and would be a good first step into poetry for someone not interested in a provocative challenge.

My thanks to #NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

In The Dark Soft Earth by Frank Watson
This is a book of poetry, and it's a great short read for those that enjoy it. It was released april 30th of this year.
Its 10 chapters or books as they're called of poems and short stories. Each book has a theme. It truly pulls you in especially if you enjoy poetry.
Pros: easy read, good flow, not long, gentle pace, the themes are great too.
Cons: only one real type of poetry was used, but it's still a great read.

This poetry collection is a breath of fresh air when it comes to this genre. The poems related to nature are simply splendid. The illustrations throughout the book give it a nice touch. Rating: 4/5 stars.

In the Dark, Soft Earth is a moody poetry collection from Frank Watson. The emotive poems are juxtaposed with gorgeous artwork or various styles and touch on topics such as love, nature, and spirituality. The tone of the poems are largely heavy and haunting, but there is a lot of beauty within the verses. I especially love the section inspired by the Tarot's Major Arcana.

Many thanks to Plum White Press and NetGalley for the advance copy.

**I received a complimentary copy of 'In the Dark, Soft Earth' from NetGalley and Plum White Press, in exchange for an honest review**

In the Dark, Soft Earth was a lovely collection of poetry. Frank Watson manages to create thoughtful imagery with his phrases, centering on life's precious moments. The chapters (labeled as Books), categorizes the purity and essence of the human spirit. Watson's poetry manages to capture raw emotions such as desire, longing and frustration. These are human emotions that everyone endures throughout life, and his poetry reflects such a vast array of feelings.

Along with reading stories, poetry is my usual go-to when guiding people people through their situations. A poem paints a picture of a given emotion and thought process. I feel that Watson's work provides such a selection of prescriptive imagery in helping people identify with their experiences. I would definitely recommend In a Dark, Soft Earth to those searching to assist people through the written word!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me the book.
Though I don't read much poetry I decided to try this . Turned out pretty fine.

I received this book free as an eARC on NetGalley for my honest review.

Absolutely brilliant and beautifully written poetry. I really loved the occasional pieces of artwork throughout, as well. I really enjoyed this authors work.

I felt the words the author put on paper. It’s beautiful. Very real and relatable. I guess this is the power of poetry. I do wish to be more inspired instead of reminiscing the old days.

Poetry is always a hit or miss because it is such a personal experience, unfortunately this one was a miss for me. I thought the wording was very pretty but I didn't get to feel any emotional connection.

[ ARC provided by Netgally, which I kindly thank ]

Following the modern current, Frank Watson's poems have much of the "vibes" and very little of the rules of classical poetry. Nevertheless, "In The Dark, Soft Earth" is a collection of soothing, sweet and at the same time melancholic poems accompanied by beautiful paintings that enclose (and sometimes inspire) the meaning of the poems themselves.
At first it seems to see a pattern, to see the sunset, followed by a dark night in nature and the sunrise followed a day in the city and then get closer to the night again. Meantime life and death are taking their course. To be honest this structure goes to get lost with the progress of the book, until you reach the point where you are no longer experiencing the cinematic moments of the poems but you are only leafing through a book with a book accompanied by a pictures, no longer being able to empathize and not making it as interesting as it was at the beginning. Excluding the final part, there are real jewels in Frank Watson's words and it was a pleasure to read his compositions.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending this eARC in exchange for an honest review
Although not a huge fan of poetry I am trying to expand my reading tastes and decided to try this author. I read it through all together and then over the past few days I have reread the poems taking more time to try to understand them. My favourite was Book a Eight but I also enjoyed and resonated with Choice and Prison of Dreams
I thought that this book was good for someone like me who had little experience in reading poetry and I am now looking for my next collection to read.
I think that I will return to this one more than once as my knowledge expands and I will have and see different messages in them.

The description of this book of poetry sounded great. But after reading only two or three of these very short poems I discovered what I'd gotten myself into: bad writing.

Good poetry is transcendent. It gives you chills. But there was not a single poem among the dozens here that made me feel anything. They seem like something you'd write if someone came up to you and gave you 5 minutes to write a poem.

Side note--there are lots of pictures of works of art which almost entirely consist of paintings of topless women until you get to the tarot card section. More breasts than you can shake a stick at.

I got my copy free from NetGalley.

As someone who doesn't read much poetry, I loved this. The imaginative approach, the pictures, are beautiful. I was thankful that the words weren't too heavy and complex. It was easy and free verse. It consists of 10 books(sections). I did felt it was a bit too long but overall it was great.

These verses are lush and bewitching. I was absolutely swept away by the vivid imagery Watson used in every line.
Many thanks to NetGalley for providing this ARC.

This was an interesting collection of poetry and art. I appreciated the visual imagery which complemented the poetry.