
Secrets of My Heart by Imania Margria is a collection of poems and short prose that deals with the innermost thoughts and feelings of our hearts. As such, it is a deeply personal and insightful view into the heart of the author. The prose and poems that makes up this book are short and sharp, but all of it is extremely heartfelt and touching. As well as the works in English, there are also a significant number of works in other languages, including Italian and perhaps Spanish. The author has thoughtfully given the reader the full translation of the work following the non-English version. As the title suggests the works focus on secrets that we keep deep inside ourselves and rarely, if ever, let anyone see. The author’s pretext is to inspire others to share their own secrets of their own hearts.
I think, as we progress as readers we tend to focus almost exclusively on long prose and novels, perhaps feeling there is more meat in those longer novels. What Secrets of My Heart reminds me is that it does us no harm to revisit the short, sharp, poems and prose that was often where we, as writers especially, began. Poets, in general have suffered over the years from the perception that their work was not fulfilling for readers. I think Imania Margrina, for me, refutes that belief. The words here are so powerful and the emotions so compelling that it is hard not to get caught up in the pain and angst the author clearly had suffered and was expressing – her deepest held desires and fears were boldly displayed for the reader to feel also. I expect this book was quite cathartic for the author and that is why she is challenging all of us to consider exploring and expressing our own deepest desires, fears and secrets of our heart. A bonus in this work was a significant glimpse of part of Margrina’s upcoming romance novel, Eyes, which looks appealing. This work is not pretentious in any way, just raw, untamed emotion on paper. Well worth a break from the long novels to read and savour.
