One

by A.L.D. Chalom

"One" is the debut poetry collection by Swedish author A.L.D Chalom. Her poetry has amassed a great following on various social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, where she started writing poetry under the name printpoetics (@printpoetics) - what she calls a "productive procrastination" while editing her first full length novel. This collection is filled with never-seen material and so far unpublished poetry. The collection asks questions about how we live, learn, treat and interact with our environment, be it the people around us, the nature we live in, or the behaviors we come across in our society. This is a poetry collection for anyone who is ready to question how they rub off and what footprint they leave. But above all, this is a poetry collection for anyone willing to treasure and open their eyes to the uniqueness in every person and every place they touch.

Genres: Poetry

86 pages, Paperback

Published February 21, 2016

About the author

A.L.D. Chalom was born in Sweden in 1985 to a Swedish mother and American father. She grew up in Sweden, but moved abroad at the age of 19 and has since lived in Italy, France, Spain and in the UK, before returning to Sweden after over a decade living abroad.

Reviews

[M.A · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love poetry, and I've decided since the start of this year that I would be reading more, and I was fortunate to have read this. "One" is an inspiring, touching, and heart-warming collection of poems that can take you far away from this space.

I read each poem at least four times, and every time felt something different, and sometimes it was just enhanced and that's what you expect from poets, to be able to develop some sort of ideas in your head, and actually make you feel something.

There are lines that'll stay with you forever, the way the titles of every poem is put in the end plays a part of the entire piece. And I literary could not get over the line "One voice to your name" in the opening poem "One".

The thing about this collection of poems is that you don't have to rush your way through the pages, and you don't even have to start from the first page. Open the book randomly, and whatever you find you can easily feel connected to as if the poet is speaking to you. I felt that way with "You Should Have Let Me Go" and "I'd Share My Fire If You Had A Door".

A spontaneous piece of art, a book that I'd definitely be reading over and over and over again because it displays my emotions, and it's very frank. A.L.D. Chalom had the best debut, I've been following her since long and I'm proud of what she had offered the world.

[Alessandra Fanizzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought it because I was curious, I loved the marble effect cover book, and attracted by the meaning behind the title "One".
Essential, one of a kind book of poetries, with a modern touch. White papers with a nice touch, is a good feeling when turning pages...words flirt, make love and war at the same time, always harmoniously, with a smart hint of irony, creating visual images, and scenes of our generations.
The author creates chances to interact with the reader, giving time and space for soulful thought and meaningful emotions to be scanned .
I read it , re read it, and I definitely suggest to buy this cute-modern-book of poetry

[Kahni Kashiparekh · Rating 4 out of 5]

To begin with, I have never been much of poem reader, mainly because I haven’t been able to understand many of them.
However, having followed the author A.L.D. Chalom on Instagram for some time and having loved each and every piece that I read, it was a no-brainer to give her debut a read.
Having talked to her a couple of times, I knew that she was a truly beautiful soul, inside out, so I wasn’t surprised to find that her poetry collection is equally beautiful in its simplicity and yet deep- compelling the reader to think about the issues highlighted in each piece, some of them even being extremely relatable to someone like me, a person who has experienced her fair share of such situations.
This book made me believe a little more in the uniqueness of people, and sent across messages of self love and rebuilding and believing in oneself after any form of heartbreak in multiple pieces such as “It glimmers now, this piece of coal” and “You’ve got this” among others.
But, my favorite pieces will always be “Remove your shoe from my foot, please” and “missing out” for how they made me smile a little, and how they actually made me accept that even though I may be flawed in a million ways, there is still a little beauty in me.
I can go on at length about all the amazing pieces that truly touched me, but I will leave it at this- The book was absolutely worth being my first attempt at understanding poetry, and only further cemented my adoration for the author.
Hats off to you, you amazingly unreal person.

[Resh (The Book Satchel) · Rating 3 out of 5]

One"I couldnt tell if she was more beautiful,
broken or whole,
like a mirror shattered,
still hanging on the wall,
when there was light around it reflected in her pieces,
as if gently, softly,
it sparkled in her soul"

One of my favourites from this book. Loved Chalom's way of connecting love, grief , loss, friendship and other collected thoughts through the thread of 'One'. I enjoyed reading these short verses full of profound thoughts yet written in an easy manner. If you would like to read some poetry that sounds good as well as is meaningful, I recommend this book. Some other beautiful sentences I found were "Get your foot off my shoe, please" or " When you realise being an adult means walking the dog . Alone".

I hope by these I have given a glimpse of her writing style. I usually like poems that rhyme, the old styled ones. I do enjoy the not-rhyming-every-time ones and there are very few I do enjoy in that type of style. I can say Chalom's is definitely enjoyable. Check out Chalom's Instagram verses for more details.

[Diana · Rating 4 out of 5]

“… because how,
yes, how,
can something that radiates
so. much. damn. pain.
though your entire body
not burn the rest of the world with you?”


One is Chalom’s debut collection of poetry and it is worth reading over and over again!

I was so lucky when she reached out on IG and gave me a PDF version of the chapbook.

First off, I love the concept of the word one in her pieces, she uses it throughout the book to emphasis different subjects. Secondly, I really enjoy reading poetry when the pieces can paint a picture in my mind and One does exactly that for me. Chalom’s words are so elegant and beautiful when she strings them together. Lastly the layout of the whole chapbook is simple and minimalist which I am very attracted to!

I highly recommend reading One and also checking out her page on IG @printpoetics

[Those Dark Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

*The author of this book sent me a PDF copy in exchange for an honest review*

I love to read poetry collections but it has been a while since I’ve read one that I really enjoyed. I haven’t finished the last two that I started because I couldn’t connect with the poetry. I couldn’t relate to it. But this collection was different and refreshing. A lot of these poems touched me and provoked me to think about some stuff in my life. I read this book in one sitting and I was quite sad when it was over. I follow the author on Instagram and she posts some of her poems on there but this was a whole new and different side of her poetry. I’m really glad that I’ve read this book and I hope A.L.D. Chalom decides to publish a second poetry collection in the future.

Some of my favorite poems were:
- Why don’t you burn with me
- Build a new earth if you can
- You can’t wash of water with water
- In danger of extinction

[Yosiris Gomez · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's my First time that I read a poem book. (I speak spanish, I am from Dominican Republic).
I really enjoyed reading this book and one of my favorite poem of this book is ''JUST ONE''. Because we all have one life in this world and we all have to enjoy our lives, with people you love. Don't waste your time, live it. Biblically, we have another life in the kingdom of heaven. There is a life after dead. I am not trying to be religious on here. Only I wanted to share the good news. It's your decision!!
John 3:16 ''For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life''.

I recommend to everyone to read her Poem book. A great book to think.

[Andreea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must say that this is the first poem book that it is not written in my mother tongue, so i thought that it will be dull, but no -it wasn`t dull. On the contrary. I found it so delicate and impressive, all those poems, touched my soul, melted my heart.
So many truths were being said with so little words. Short and efficient! I had an revelation, i felt the happiness of being understand and not being the only one feeling all those...feelings.
The writer is so far away, but so close in a magic way. Makes me wanna find out ore about life, about love.
I am thankful for finding this ONE little treasure!
Sorry about my (poor) English!

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The poems were short and sweet and easy to read and I was able to read it in 1 sitting. Many of the poems were relatable and all of them were easy to understand. Some of them made me think about serious issues in modern society, such as terrorism and poverty. This collection of poetry is perfect for people who don't like overly long books or can only read for a couple minutes because most of the poems are only 1 page long.

[Maru Peng · Rating 5 out of 5]

actual rating: 4.5 / 5

i was very lucky to receive the pdf copy from the lovely author! Honestly, this was the first time i read English poetry, so i was very excited to give this one a try. I finished it in one sitting and really really enjoyed it! Fascinating and beautiful, especially loved her concise writing, very easy to read!

[D. J. Syngai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Miss Chalom's writing style is very unique and refreshing! Her book ONE is a well written collection of poems! A few of my favourites are 'You're missing out,' 'You thanked the air,' and 'Just basic maths.'