These poems are stunning, original, sensual, rich, and joy-full. This book is a buffet and I want to keep going back for more until I’m stuffed.

Kai picked this out for me from the Seattle Public Library and it had everything I like in a poetry collection: consistent changes to innovate on form, word choice that halted me mid-sentence nearly every sentence, obscure enough language and references that I had to google definitions, and heart at the center of the story that shone through till the last page. Brava Kai!
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Thinking about a feeling is like photocopying a feeling. that scanning light is safe.

Living is such wet data.

“All things I did with love, with love I kept.”

“where can you harmlessly place your devotion?”

“togetherness can be brutal. yet we need it.”

“i think you are the bravest person i know in that i can’t predict the limits of what you can do.”

“the times we have failed our friends still haunt us.”

“i’m scared of my desire for closeness to the people that a genuine feeling can hurt.”

“to honor my mother, who showed me what sacrifice and love could look like through her unforgettable cooking and life.”

“I really thought we had all the time in the world.”

“Years Flow By Like Water”

“I love them. I know that is not a radical statement, but I love loving them.”

“it’s here that talking fails”

“all this I glimpsed and still no words”

“on the platform home she self-soothes publicly, singing whitney’s i always love you, and i will always love you, no compromise.”

Please note that I rated this to record my personal enjoyment, not my full critical opinion. I'm not saying this is low quality. I fully believe there is an audience that will feel deeply seen and connected to these poems. I believe there is an audience that will feel deeply enlightened and educated by these poems. I am glad this collection exists. It just didn't work for me.

playful, meaningful, full of love