Gabbie Hanna brings twists and turns to adulthood

When you do not feel like reading your last Bingo book you pick up Adultolescence by Gabbie Hanna. These indulgent poems are the perfect read when you just want to sit and do a little reading but do not want to sit and read. However, I practically devoured the book in one setting.

I am not sure how old Hanna is, but you get the feeling they are in their late 20’s/early 30’s. The poems are exactly what you expected. As previously mentioned, they can be a bit indulgent. But then again, poetry is a wonderfully indulgent format (one reason I enjoy reading and writing it). The poems are geared towards the younger crowd, but at the same time anyone can relate as they deal with everything from the traditional “deep stuff” (anxiety, relationships) but also have some “fun stuff” to cleanse the pallet. There is one that mentions some poems they wrote because they had something to say and others they had a deadline and needed to fill pages, and can you tell which one was which. You will not like everything or even understand everything: I wonder why the Advice Poems are not in chronological order, but I am sure there is a reason behind the madness.

You might not like Hanna’s illustrations, because they are not very detailed, very simplistic pencil-like drawings, but that is okay, too. Even though they are not ART-work, there is are bits of detail where needed. I was not always sure why “that illustration” was paired with “that poem” but for the most part, it is obvious why. They are all black and white, but I wanted to color in a few of them as some have a “coloring book” quality.

I hope Hanna does not mind that their work made me want to borrow a theme or two to write my own poems and wanted to be creative by giving color to their illustrations.