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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
such a great poetry collection, shockingly beautiful and each line is justified (which is rare in some cases) a definite read if youre into to spoken word poetry
Un libro que explora con belleza la infancia. Kaye lleva a sus lectores a compartir su pasado, hacerlos partícipes de ese pasado. Los abuelos del poeta son captados en apenas unos versos y con ellos es suficiente para admirar en toda su dimensión a esos seres humanos que con tanto amor son evocados en los poemas. El tiempo del despertar también está presente, el despertar del deseo, pero también el desengaño (como un despertar).
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Phil Kaye so skillfully captures the beauty and pain of growing up, the passage of time, love and loss, and also the weird pervasive insertion of the internet and technology into our lives, especially poignant for millennials. It made me laugh and it made me cry. Mostly, it felt like life.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
This was a beautiful exploration of what remembering is, the shards of a mirror reflecting sunlight in many different directions. The poems in this volume speak not only of their messages, but also of the author's skill, as there are many different formats, extended metaphors, lengths and styles used to bring the past to life. I would say I definitely had my favourites, and some poems evoked more in me than others, but there was a sense of quality throughout.
Content Warnings
Minor: Bullying, Cancer, Chronic illness, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Antisemitism
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Poetry collection focusing a lot on young love and being from an immigrant family and losing parts of your culture.
Rating 4.1 stars
The fact that I did not read this book earlier is such a shame because it is written so beautifully that it feels like a treat everytime you read it.
The format of book is such that you can live a little in Phil Kaye's life trough it in pieces or in dates and times. It has beautiful confessions of a soul living a childhood before internet, a childhood of divorce and other intimate parts of life. Phil manages to bring the same magic in his book as he does in his spoken poetry. The first half or 100 pages of the book are chef's kisses and definitely award worthy.
My favorite lines(I couldn't choose just one)-
• I think about how odd it must feel
to be famous for your sadness
• stutter is a cage
made of mirrors
every what’d you say
every just take your time
every come on, kid, spit it out
is a glaring reflection
of an existence
you cannot escape
every moment trips
over its own announcement
again & again & again
until it just hangs there
in the center
of the room as if what you had
to say had no
gravity at all
• is this what it means to be human?
to be all powerful?
to build a temple
to yourself
and leave
only the walls to pray
The fact that I did not read this book earlier is such a shame because it is written so beautifully that it feels like a treat everytime you read it.
The format of book is such that you can live a little in Phil Kaye's life trough it in pieces or in dates and times. It has beautiful confessions of a soul living a childhood before internet, a childhood of divorce and other intimate parts of life. Phil manages to bring the same magic in his book as he does in his spoken poetry. The first half or 100 pages of the book are chef's kisses and definitely award worthy.
My favorite lines(I couldn't choose just one)-
• I think about how odd it must feel
to be famous for your sadness
• stutter is a cage
made of mirrors
every what’d you say
every just take your time
every come on, kid, spit it out
is a glaring reflection
of an existence
you cannot escape
every moment trips
over its own announcement
again & again & again
until it just hangs there
in the center
of the room as if what you had
to say had no
gravity at all
• is this what it means to be human?
to be all powerful?
to build a temple
to yourself
and leave
only the walls to pray
Seeing the poem Camaro performed by him in a Youtube video is what made me buy Date & Time. Obviously they wouldn't promote the best poem out of the entire book, right? There must be something else of equal perfection, right? And yes, there are some. Some enough to make me rate it three stars. However, I can't help having expected more. While poems like My Grandmother's Ballroom, and Camaro really spoke to me, others like Internet speaks back to the author, 1998, Yellow Bouquet or The New Multihyphenate just absolutely did not. Each of them examples of a great idea that could have been worked out better. Writing out poems meant for spoken word means that they should always flow easily, whether they are read or heard. Writing poems / in this / form / merely for / the aesthetic of it / does not / do them justice. Sorry, Phil.