Collector of Things & Other Poems

Poetry, with its variation in style and execution, can be an intimidating genre to explore. However, with genuine and wholesome intent, even a younger audience can participate in the delight of reading poetry. With Riya Aarini’s Collector of Things & Other Poems</em., its fun rhyme schemes and drawings keep its new readers engaged and has its older readers reminisce on the whimsy and innocence of their own childhood experiences.

Readers of all ages will feel a fondness for the characters portrayed in these poems and accompanying art as Aarini has the talent of evoking a child-like voice; the speakers of poems exuding a range of wonder. Some of which also contain odes to songs of the past, such as “Mr. Finney Finnegan / sounds like Michael Finnegan, maybe brothers?” a bridge between potential parent-child reading pairs. Poems like “Glass Half Full” and “Questions” especially ring of innocent curiosity, with its seemingly endless questions, akin to a child’s thought process, but never shown in a mocking or condescending tone. Aarini also understands a child’s train of thought with the speaker in “Everyone’s to Blame ” tapping into the logic of a child. This collection is so silly and whimsical, one can’t help but laugh along.