Book Review: Untouched

Reviewed by Audrey Davis

An emotional journey through love and desire

Untouched stands beautiful yet biting as an unpicked and well-nurtured rosebush, complete with its unseen thorns. Ana Dee’s debut poetry collection witnesses the passionate sentiments of a person who has sought and yearned for a whole and unbroken connection with their lover, only to find these feelings unreciprocated. 

“and the moon is red with envy,

sensing I only have an appetite

for the light in your eyes.”

This collection is split into six sections, and each section seems to add a new layer of understanding for the lone speaker. The tone opens delicately, and the speaker contemplates what they imagine their love should feel like, in short statements and flitting ideals to long for. 

Eventually, the tone becomes alive with fire and passion. Aware yet focused. The wise sense of inevitability. Poems in the last two sections are a little longer than those in the first, mirroring this carefully cultivated emotional evolution from hopeful, yearning daydreams to wistful wisdom. “Choices,” “Beautiful Truths,” and “Small Town Sins” shine.

“We flirt like lovers

and love like ghosts.”

Dee’s style is comparable to that of Rupi Kaur, in its generally shorter length, and accessible subject matter. The poems don’t stray from their planted path of love and emotions readers are only given the speaker’s personal views, with a small inkling of indirect context linking to motivation, and every image is solely focused on love, gained or lost. 

“Love has turned me into an explorer,

desperate to save you.”

Because of this, some of the poems can feel a little similar to each other, such as “Distance” and “In Stillness,” and then again in “Clockwork Heart” and “Skyline.” These poems essentially have the same direction, tone, and message, with different imagery. Inclusions like this make it feel like the collection was drawn out.

While there isn’t a poem that isn’t explicitly about love, this kind of intimacy lends itself well to directing readers away from overthinking and trying to derive meaning, and it leads them into the speaker’s simple yet extremely expressive outpouring. 

This collection would be a fitting companion for readers who may find themselves with relationship troubles. As opposed to advice, these poems offer a respite, a hand reaching out through shared experience to offer readers a chance to sit down and catch their breath in the grass. Dee’s grasp of emotion is raw and unfiltered, yet tangible, and readers can immerse themselves in the familiar ache of love.

“I am a whisper of what I used to be 

and an echo of what I’ll become.”

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