Hearts.
Shivani Anora N.
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Hearts. is a full-colour A5 zine of short poetry in combination with collage based around the suit of hearts in a deck of cards.
“Love. The season of spring… Home… The hearts suit of a deck of cards has been said to represent all those things & more…”
I’ve been reviewing zines for quite a while now, and while I love zines through and through, I still can’t help but have a little extra smile when I see someone do something that I haven’t seen before. In the case of Hearts. I quite like how Shivani has paired short poems to one suit of a deck of cards. It seems like a perfect match with both poetry and cards having a lot more meaning below the surface if you care to look.
Each two-page spread features a single playing card (in order from ace to king) on alternating backgrounds on the left and a poem on a minimalistic background on the right. The colour is vibrant but not overwhelming, never taking away from the card and the poem.
Shivani’s style of poetry is what I’m seeing more and more of – no rhyme or structure as such but plenty of meaning depending on how far you want to dig and how long you’d like to contemplate it. As I’ve mentioned here plenty of times, poetry is definitely not my strong suit. Some of the poems in here went a bit over my head. That said, what I enjoyed touched me with the intensity and heartbreak that surrounds love.
As a side note, I’m also not all that familiar with card meanings, but I wouldn’t be surprised (and am actually curious to find out) if there is an even deeper connection between the words and the card they have been paired with.
Hearts. is a poetry zine that left me feeling contemplative and curious about what the next three zines (with the next three card suits) will bring. If you like the more ‘modern’ style of poetry, then this is a zine to check out.