Making it through life by Alex Pauley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

At 16, this young poet has already learned how to wield language to evoke deep personal feelings in a way that moves beyond the pitfalls of the sentimental and usual teenage angst. I was impressed by his use of prose poetry and stream of consciousness to navigate the dark halls of his mind, as he wrestles with themes of depression. The poems are emotionally raw, yet sophisticated and polished with a natural flow. He has a skillful grasp of the building blocks of poetry, as the poems are sprinkled with internal rhyme and stronger images build within the poems like a fugue. There is a hopefulness throughout the message of his poems; a deep desire to convey his inner world and break out to the external world. His poems are enlightening and cathartic. I look forward to reading more of this poet's work.

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