snowmaiden 's review for:

Calling a Wolf a Wolf by Kaveh Akbar

5.0

---

"I am sealing all my faults with platinum// so they'll gleam like the barrel of a laser gun," the poet writes, and that seems like a very fitting description of what is going on in this book. This is raw, visceral poetry dealing with some heavy subjects (most notably alcoholism and other addictions), yet it is often beautiful and always powerful. Some of the imagery in the poems is complex and difficult to unpack, but just when you feel you're getting too tangled up, the poet will drop in a simple declarative sentence that clears the air. Here's one: "I like it fine, this daily struggle// to not die, to not drink or smoke or snort anything/ that might return me to combustibility." Or how about this? "Most days I try hard to act human, to breathe/ like a human and speak with the same flat language, but often// my kindness is clumsy." I feel like I'm not doing this book justice at all, but it's one of those books that is almost impossible to review. Just get a copy and find out for yourself.

(Note: I received my copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway.)