A Millie
To be honest, I've always thought that the subject matter of a lot of the poetry teenagers like me have to study at school is beyond our experience and understanding. So what a delightful surprise it was to come across Voices. Although I was unfamiliar with many of the poets in the collection, several are dear to me. Actually, some of their poems, thankfully included in this book, have supported me during emotionally upsetting periods of my life. I'm sure the same will be true for other readers. Work by several teenage poets is included, and although there's much to admire in their poems, I have to admit to preferring the poetry of more experienced writers. Once a poem goes beyond a page in length, I tend to lose interest, so seeing only one or two examples of such poems in Voices was a great relief.
B Eduardo
My first impression of Voices was far from great, I'm afraid, as the cover struck me immediately as being rather childish. The contents of the book are much more pleasing on the whole, although I was expecting to see far more work by poets of the same age as me. I know too little about poetry to claim that any selection I could come up with would be any better, but the theme of lots of the poems seems too adult to me, which meant I was never really sure what they were trying to say. I'd like to have seen a maximum number of poems per writer. One poet especially, whose work I couldn't really connect with, should have had far fewer poems in the collection. I found the poetry relating to the environment, which appeared in several poets' work, inspiring to read, though.
C Daiyu
I suspect that most adults will object to the cover of Voices, which has the title painted onto it in a street-art style. It's supposed to attract teenagers, though, which I think it does highly effectively. My affection for Voices only increased on reading the contents page, as there are more poems by Olivia Infanta, a writer whose work has inspired me for a while, than any other poet. The other poetry included in Voices, however, was rather disappointing. Many of the poems in Voices deal with environmental issues and I can understand why this might be the case, but a little more variety of themes would have been welcome. It's my guess that whoever put this collection together was not a teenager, and I can't help feeling that a poetry-loving sixteen-year-old like me could have come up with a more appropriate set of poems.
D Radislav
Although I'd never describe myself as a regular reader of poetry, I really enjoyed Voices. When reading through the poem titles and the names of the writers at the beginning of the book, there wasn't even one I was familiar with. I actually see that as an advantage, because I could read the book with an open mind. What I found particularly satisfying was the fact that the environmental problems we're facing in these challenging times were the theme of many of these poems. There were several quite lengthy ones that were especially enjoyable, if that's the right word to use for such a difficult subject. Amazingly, I've actually started writing poetry myself since reading Voices, thanks mainly to seeing writers who are no older than me produce such beautiful verse. I can't think of a better selection of poems to introduce teenage readers like me to poetry.
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