*I was given a free review copy through NetGalley. Thank you!*

"The word for tomorrow was a stork, flying away."

In this poetry collection, Neil Hilborn gives us some old poems, as well as some new ones. Most of them were written on the road during his tour, thus his poems meander about from place to place, searching for something. Perhaps it's meaning, or how to deal with mental health while still being a performer and a writer. Sometimes it's looking for a way back, to himself, to love, to another time.

"What's the word for a place that you loved, a window seat, a garden, a house of stone, a wall in a field you were carried to on the wind, that when you look for it again, is gone."

This book is introspective while still looking out. Hilborn writes about anxiety and depression and how those two might not let him see the future as something bright. There's always a sense of grasping the next day and the next, looking for ways to hold on to that sense of expectation of days to come.

"Tomorrow is a lease I have to sign every morning."

I want to rib Hilborn for his fascination with Midwestern corn, which is the one vegetable I repudiate with my entire soul, but when there isn't much to talk about RE: Midwest, I get it, I guess. The book ends with one of his viral poems, "The Future", which made sense seeing as his book is titled after it. It neatly summarizes the themes of the whole collection. Describing his life with bipolar disorder, he lists symptoms and actions while he's dissociating or in a fugue state. It's bleak, with a touch of comedic lines that one often does when talking our own about mental illnesses. Yet, he ends on a light note, shining a light directly on his ability to be optimistic in the face of something that doesn't leave much room for optimism.

"[...]the future is a blue sky and a full tank of gas. I saw the future, I did, and in it I was alive."

This was a pretty solid poetry collection. It balances humor and other emotions well, and dealt with subjects like mental illness in very interesting ways, particularly in the titular poem. I liked that the majority of the references were to rock and punk music, which made it more relate-able to me than many obscure literary references that one often finds in poetry.

I absolutely love Neil Hilborn’s writing. I preordered this one before seeing him live and was tired of waiting for it when I saw this available on Netgalley. Neil was incredible live and his poems do not disappoint. I loved all of them and can not wait for the next book.

I have loved Neil's work for years and I went through a phase where I listen to his spoken word album like it's music. I was a bit anxious going into this collection and it got off to a bit of a rocky start for me, but then there were a few poems (such as "For Henry, Who Has Just Gone") where my emotions flooded out of me. I don't think I have ever cried this often while reading a poetry collection. Not to mention the two "Psalm 12" poems which actually made me laugh out loud. There were several poems that I didn't enjoy as much, but as a whole, any poetry collection that can make me laugh while tears are still running down my cheeks is good to me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the collection in exchange for an honest review!

I didn’t enjoy this. I have heard great things about Neil’s work and was expecting to like it way more than I did. There were definitely a few I enjoyed, but sadly most I did not. I feel like these would have been so much better performed! Like this book should have come with all them spoken and it would have had a bigger impact on me. But most just fell flat. I was also confused so much! I felt like so many of these just didn’t make sense. They either went over my head or I couldn’t get the overall message behind most of them. It just felt like I was reading sentences that had nothing to do with each other. Again, I would probably enjoy watching his performances but I can’t recommend this in written form as I was either confused or just didn’t care for the poem.

This collection is not your happy-go-lucky bunch of words.
It's got grit and I found some poems as nostalgic as they were sentimental. There's a serving of sarcasm in between some lines too and this reminded me of something my Literature Professor used to say "If you don't get it the first time, read it a second time and if you don't get it then, try the third, after that well, blame the gods of literature for not bestowing understanding on you."
Thank you NetGalley for the eARC.

1..5 Stars

While there were some good lines here and there, I didn’t connect with any of the poems and many of them seemed silly although I’m not sure that was the intention.

Mistakenly listed as 'humor' (sic), downloaded and rated as such.