Sarah Kay, along with illustrator Sophia Janowitz, created her debut collection of poetry back in 2014. And in 2018 No Matter the Wreckage came on my radar. Kay’s poems celebrate family, love, travel, as well as the oddness, beauty and darkness of the world. She is powerful and soft. Bold and quiet. She hits you over the head and whispers in your ear. To hear her read her works (so far only on YouTube) would be a grand treat. Her voice is the perfect vessel for her words.
No Matter the Wreckage has some amazing lines and some even more amazing poems when those lines come together. She knows how to come to the point (most of her poems are no more than a page), yet she could have gone on and on. She speaks from the heart and gives you a peak at her soul. She is an honest narrator and knows how to make her point. She is hopeful even among some seemly less than hopeful situations.
The book is set up in a traditional manner and is very easy to read quickly through the book. However, if that is done the subjects and words start to blur together. It is recommended to sip the words as you would a hot cup of tea on an autumn morning. (Which a couple of her poems remind me of…. where others remind me a of a cup of tea without sugar).
She brings out feelings you knew you had and some you did not.