To Be a Wild Thing Howling in the Night (Nocturnal – A Book Review)

Nocturnal

Author: Wilder

Published: 2018

On Goodreads

My Rating:

Rated E for endless nights of dreaming and the strolls through the days to get to those nights.

silence isn’t lonely

In a blend of lush and elegant art and poetry is a journey of self-discovery and a yearning to find love. Love in others and in oneself. More than the words on these pages are the ink stains, landscapes, and dream-like state created to render the reader with a unique experience. So beautiful it’s nearly fantasy.

I officially need to read the other books by Wilder. While I was brought to Stargazing at Noon by Amanda Torroni, she approached love and love lost with philosophy and adventuring. This dropped me into a wanderlust of endless night and running wild with no fear of such tremendous emotions. The four sections/phases (like the moon): Dusk, Northern Lights, Howl, and Lucid Dreams, approached the places I love to go within myself. A place I can run barefoot without care or any real thought. A place to dream.

Utterly gorgeous imagery both in the art and in the prose. From cover to cover, the artwork had me breathless. I felt like I was dropped into a dreamscape. Absolutely stunning and magical. Smoky denizens and inky skies, there was inspiration in all of it. A sense of embrace and release within the incredible theme of wild and free and night and waking to dream and so much more.

The style was impeccable. Each section was sheer prose, but Wilder took a unique form to each of them. The one that struck me the most was in the final section in which Wilder brought two halves of a whole together. Two poems that ultimately stand together and alone. Truly incredible. Like Hide-And Seek, Skeleton-Key, and Everyday-Magic.

I didn’t want to finish. I wanted this to last as long as possible. This was a place I didn’t want to leave. The way it made me feel, I want to feel that always. There are many interpretations that can be met with poetry. This not only approached a part of myself I don’t visit often, but also my wishes, yearnings, and even dreams. Such an ineffable feeling that provoked so much wistful awe.

Overall

Outstanding. I got lost and I didn’t want to leave. Take this journey. It’s worth it. There aren’t enough words to describe it all. So, just go read it.

Quotables:


my eyes will remember
how to love the world
under changing skies.

when the light changes,
so does the view. (Dusk, p. 3)


and like the sun i am

         spinning
                  d i z z y

running after the moon,
trying to catch something
i can never have. (Dusk, p. 23)


i do not wish for tomorro
because it brings me further away
from tonight

it brings me further
         away
                from you. (Dusk, 32)

i will find you
in between dusk
and twilight.
i will balance you gently
on my fingers
and save you from 
falling into glass jars.
i will set you free
knowing that their
eyes should see
how you hold on
to your own light.
i will watch you fade
into the trees and wait
until i mine.

- fireflies (Dusk, p. 38)


i dream of an almighty night
full of wonder and a north star
that knows the way. (Howl, p. 113)


I am not
where you
left me.
I am all
the places
I have never
been. (Howl, p. 115)

More to come soon…                                                                                               

  -K.

Song Today? Still Falling For You by Ellie Goulding

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