On the blurb on the back of this book it states, "Before Rupi Kaur and Amanda Lovelace, there was Machi Tawara", which would have put me off entirely if I had come into this book completely blind, given that both Kaur and Lovelace are, imho, sub-par enter-hitting Instapoets. (YMMV, natch.)

Tawara-sensei is an actual POET, who deals in strict metre, an ancient form, and the weaving of beautiful phrases, and her work oftentimes, for me, reflects yuugen -- a "profound, mysterious sense of the beauty of the universe… and the sad beauty of human suffering." How she does this by telling sweet, simple tales of modern life and personal emotions, I don't know, but I'll consider myself a good poet if I ever manage to capture even one ounce of that magic.