Can't Think Straight

Sapphic Poetry (LGBTQ plus)

Poetry - Love/Romance
45 Pages
Reviewed on 11/28/2021
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    Book Review

Reviewed by Erin Nicole Cochran for Readers' Favorite

Can’t Think Straight is a sapphic poetry collection by Isabel Scheck. It focuses on the longing and immediate reactions to being close to a woman that you want to be with. There is a sweet simplicity to the writing that reflects a kind of youth and innocence that many will immediately connect with. Scheck’s Can’t Think Straight provides its audience with a world that some may not understand but may be curious about. And curiosity is like a specially honed tool or ability that we all come into this world with, although some of us lose it and become lesser versions of ourselves, walling our minds up to what might not make immediate sense to us. Can’t Think Straight pushes through that wall and lets readers explore new ideas in a way that feels accessible.

Isabel Scheck’s Can’t Think Straight poetry collection gave me a new perspective on what it would be like to see through someone of my own gender’s eyes and how they feel for that same gender. I found it not totally different but also unique at the same time. The lines that struck me the hardest were at the bottom of page 15: “The kaleidoscope of butterflies/never rests when I think about her./The butterflies are violent.” That woke my skin up. Violent butterflies are such an exquisite and exotic image, much like the poetry in Isabel Scheck’s Can’t Think Straight.

Natalie Soine

Can’t Think Straight by Isabel Scheck is a collection of eloquently written poems that talk about love and the different meaning it brings to each of us. What it feels like to fall in love and to have someone love us in return. How important the little things are and how doing the simplest tasks together enhances our relationships. Trying to focus on anything other than the person you love is impossible as they occupy your thoughts constantly, and we delight in everything they do and say. We have to think carefully about taking the plunge, given the fear of being hurt or rejected. But if we are fortunate, then we will find the right person at the right time. It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

An absolute delight to read, Can’t Think Straight is beautifully written and Isabel Scheck captures the emotions we all go through when falling in love and being loved in return. Reading this book will have the reader thinking about what really makes them happy in their relationship; are they happy and loved? In an ideal world, we would have everything that we want and need – if only we knew what we wanted and needed in the first place. The cover is beautiful, created by the author, and adds a colorful dimension to the book. I especially enjoyed some of the humor such as “My girlfriend and I would lay under the willow tree together, but first I just need to find a willow tree and a girlfriend...” A thoroughly enjoyable book of poems suitable for everyone, and an ideal gift.