Reader Views Editorial Book Review
- Oquirrh Keyes
- Dec 5, 2025
- 2 min read
The Quiet Calendar
Oquirrh Keyes
Epiphany Blaire Press (2025)
ISBN: 979-8218838591
Reviewed by Susan Violante for Reader Views (11/2025)
Just imagine having a life with your soulmate at your side. Your life is complete until it isn’t, because you find out your reality was a lie, and grief becomes your day and night. That is when the counting of days starts. That is the foundation of Keyes’ collection of poems. Each one is a day after her awakening from deceit.
The Quiet Calendar by Oquirrh Keyes states on the front matter page of the book, “this is a work of poetry.” I, however, found it to be more than that. It is also a work of art. The book is presented to readers as a tool to keep count of the silence within each day. The counting begins on her grief’s first day. It is written completely in lower case. But the words don’t just deliver poetry to the reader. The author uses different fonts to make the poem an art piece as well, then complements the poetry with beautiful sketches. The combination of all these art forms takes the reader on a heartfelt read as the author shares raw emotion from her own life, from her own loss…
The book is structured chronologically, as each poem reflects diary entries of her grief stages…because when you wake up on a day to discover your life was not real, each day is faced with the same pain of death. And healing is a day-by-day process, which the author documented in her ‘quiet calendar.’ Here is a sample:
One week complete
i awoke with no thoughts of you,
no hand reaching for my phone,
no waiting for the ping of a man
i no longer know.
morning routines moved quietly,
unbothered by silence.
songs on the stereo
no longer stung—
i sang out loud and
giggled some.
later, at home with a movie,
something opened inside me.
tears came—
not grief,
release—
I love this book. I love all the poems in it. You can feel the emotions she was going through in each word. Her voice is raw, truthful, genuine. I related to each word as all women who have been betrayed at some point in their lives will by the One that was everything…I love her sketches as well, which will also speak to readers.
Overall, The Quiet Calendar by Oquirrh Keyes is a beautifully written poetry collection, an art piece based on the author’s true, raw emotions. Its honesty and authenticity provide not just a read for an audience. It also provides refuge as a tool for healing to anyone who has been hurt by someone they trusted.
A Five-Star, Must-Have read!
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