A really well put together anthology of Central Avenue's first ever Poetry Prize Award. The group of poets and writers are diverse, talented, and meshed so well together. The collection is split up into themed parts depending on what the poem is about which was fine but I don't think it was necessary when showcasing more than one artist. I'm more of a alphabetical fan myself. Otherwise, it was a really enjoyable read!

My favorite poems are:
"I Cannot Throw Love Out the Window" by JJ Celli
"I Was Told To Pray and the Father Would Answer" by Alyssa Patil
"There's A Word For That" by Jillian Calahan
"Chronic Illness Takes No Days Off" by Kira Santana
and
"The Patron Saint of Wendy's Strawberry Lemonade" by Wanda Deglane

This poetry collection includes the poems of Central Avenue's first poetry contest. It includes many fine poems with some interesting variety. I liked how each poet's bio followed their poem. I'm not sure if the book includes the winners and runners up, and the short list, or how they chose the poems that went into the collection. And I found it odd that the book doesn't start with the winning poems. They chose to group the poems into sections, and putting all the poems on grief in one section was too much for me. I tried changing all my settings in my kindle, but could never get the poems to read one to a page. I found the placement of the winner rewards confusing.  Poetry formatting is important, so I hope that if this book is going to be released as an e-book, it is carefully formatted to give each poem the look it's supposed to have. Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for this copy for review.

When I read a poetry collection I’ll mark pages or passages that I loved so that I can go back and reread them, savoring each one. I could tell by the number of pages I marked for Central Avenue Poetry Prize 2024, that this is definitely a 5 star read for me! I found these poems to be brutally honest, breathtaking and bittersweet, reflecting on creativity and almost every aspect of human nature that touches the heart. I can’t wait to be able to recommend this title in the store as well as purchasing myself to give as gifts. Well done!

Amazing collection of poems from talented, diverse writers! There are poems about immigration, depression, grief, and more from authors who are from all walks of life.

Thank you to NetGalley and publisher for the opportunity to read and review!

This was an incredibly enjoyable collection! I thought that the way that the poems were divided into different categories made the collection flow very well and I enjoyed that the information about the poets was at the bottom of each poem so I could look up the poets whose work spoke to me most! They include little markers for the poems that were runners up for the prize and for the poem that won the prize which was a nice addition. My favorite poems from this collection were: “I Was Told To Pray and The Father Would Answer” by Alyssa Patil, “Let Me Be Honest” by Elizabeth Wilder, “Missed Calls and Heroin” by Alicia Cook, and “The Patron Saint of Wendy’s Strawberry Lemonade” by Wanda Deglane. So glad to have read this and had the chance to to discover new poets!