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Such precise, stunning verse. Sings from highs and lows, gets you in your center. I'm going to be thinking about this for awhile, and look forward to his full-length collection
When you pick up a book of poems, you want it to read the way this one does.
Akbar's struggles as a recovering alcoholic are transformed into works of art that transcend (while honoring) his individual demons. The language is powerful and the poems moving. Even if you've never experienced addiction, his poems address the hunger of life, the desire for deep experience, the difficulties of love and both the remorse and satisfactions of our choices.Jagged and perceptive, these books carried me deep into the heart of my most personal struggles while providing a greater conte...
A simply stunning mind is on display in this brief volume that showcases Akbar's willingness to stare unflinchingly into a painful past and find the beauty within those moments. Kaveh Akbar is a hugely important voice and one that I look forward to reading for many years to come.
Home Run King
“envy is the only deadly sin that's no fun for the sinner” Portrait of the Alcoholic ~~ Kaveh Akbar I love Kaveh Akbar. He helped to reawaken my long dormant love of poetry in 2017. He is a brilliant writer.Kaveh Akbar is also one of the first “superstar” poets the world has known since Maya Angelou. He seems to be everywhere these days. Maggie Gyllenhaal has even hired Akbar to write poems for upcoming film, The Kindergarten Teacher. Akbar is an extremely honest writer; he dedicates Portrait o...
This slim collection of poetry is definitely filled with more energy than anything else I read in February. Don’t let the name mislead you. Yes, on one level Akbar’s chapbook examines the perplexities and defeats of addiction, but underneath there are more immediate inquiries about spiritual fatigue, the construct of masculinity, and finding meaning in the mundane. Given the title, perhaps it’s ironic that there are so many memorable lines and moments of bizarre clarity. It’s a new take on a tim...
I read this a few days ago, just forgot to add, because I read it on the city bus. It is that short... or maybe the city bus has an annoyingly circuitious route... actually kind of both. Sorry about that!My review on Bogi Reads the World:http://www.bogireadstheworld.com/poet...
Layers working through some of these beauties!!! "Lord, I meant to be helpless, sex–less as a comma, quiet ascotton floating on a pond...""Listen to me, faithful silence: somehowwe've become strangers. Growing upI kept a housefly tied to a string tied to a lamp.I fed him wet Tic-Tacs and idly assumedhe would outlive me. When he diedI opened myself to death, the way a fallen treeopens itself to the wild. Now my bloodis drying on the pillow. Now the man..."LOVE the gut, the feeling, the passion of...
Every poem here is a stunner.
This collection combined with my New Poetry class is what inspired and motivated me to not only dip my toes back into creative writing, but to experiment with other languages and unconventional spacing in format. Homework hasn't been this fun in a long time! I loved reading many of Akbar's poems, but a few resonated less with me because I have zero experience with alcoholism. This did not decrease my appreciation for his work, but I felt like I missed out on some elements that I would have relat...
So these are excellent and I'll be reading the complete collection when it comes out in the fall for sure. Akbar reminds me of Rimbaud if Rimbaud had any redeemable qualities. The images here and the language around them: distinct clear. These seem both classic and of this moment.
There are no words for how stunning this is.
So unsettling and perfect.
I prepared myself to be underwhelmed with this, having just picked it up on a whim. What initially felt mediocre at best rose in a subtle and often beautiful crescendo. Words that were often raw and hungry, sometimes delicate and tender, with nostalgic reflections on youth and honest self-depreciation. This was a worthwhile, albeit rather short, book of poetry.
I really liked this book of poems. The poems perfectly rode the line between sensical and nonsense, which very closely mimicked the effects of alcohol. This poet is truly gifted and obviously works hard on his craft. Portrait of the Alcoholic is filled with symbolism that repeats itself throughout, creating a consistent world of meaning which I truly appreciate. I enjoyed the references to and recognition of Rumi and other ancient greats like him who played similarly with how god/alcohol seem to...
A magnificent debut that not only challenges faith and alcoholism as pieces of oneself, but as entities of their own.
Absolutely stunning. I can't even dissect what makes it so good, I don't know how to reverse-engineer this kind of poetry. "I had been asleep / safe from sad news, dreaming / of my irradiated hairless mother / pulling a thorn from the eye of a dog. / I woke from that into a blade." (p17) Makes me need to lie down and never be okay again. "The things I've thought I've loved / could sink an ocean liner, and likely would / if given the chance." (p18) Same, dude, same. "Being anywhere makes me thirs...
A beautiful and hungry collection.
Beautifully spiritual with incisive explorations of vice and virtue.
