Cyrus Parker is a non-binary author. Thank you to Central Park Publishing for granting me a wished ARC of this poetry book.

Coffee Days and Whiskey Nights is a very interesting set of poetry. One of the things I appreciated the most about this collection is that there are trigger warnings at the beginning of the book. I am very pro-CW (or TW) in books and seeing the normalization of it is great!

This collection of poetry explores multiple topics such as gender dysphoria, alcoholism, and body issues. There were day and night poems that were differentiated by white and black pages. Occasionally, there is so prose mixed in. I should have loved this entire collection but unfortunately, I feel as if these great ideas that feel so reminiscent of struggles many of us face are still in its first draft.

The diction used is very straight forward and concise. I personally feel as if Parker's writing style was too polished and robotic. I can feel the authenticity of their experiences and resonate with them. However, the poetry and prose never felt elevated. I never felt as if I truly heard their voice through their works for a majority of the pieces. Such heavy topics as discussed with care but I feel as if they could have dug deeper and really sing.

This book is by no means bad but the writing style was a great disconnect that made me want more. I will be keeping my eye out on Parker and look forward to their poetry growing more passionately.

3.5/ 5 Stars

I loved the set up of this collection and there were many lines that were quite lovely. There were a few pieces that felt redundant (either an echo of previous works from Parker or other "Instagram poets"). I didn't feel inspired by it or particularly moved by the collection. This one just didn't do anything for me, but I can see why/how it may resonate with others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the advanced copy.

This poetry book was interesting. It was my first time reading Cyrus Parker’s book.
I liked the writing style :)

I gave this poetry collection 3.75 stars

Thank you to Netgalley for this e-arc in exchange of my honest review

I was initially drawn to the title of this little book of poetry, "Coffee days whisky nights" , so simple and yet something that will speak to so many of us. Who hasn't had a day where it seems like coffee is the only thing that keeps you going, or a night where the only comfort that you can find seems to be at the bottom of a whiskey glass.? The author uses a clever technique of pairing poems so that the daytime or "coffee " poems are printed on the white coloured pages while the darker and more serious nighttime "whiskey " poems are printed alongside on a dark page. The poems are short but not lacking in impact , and as I read I found myself highlighting passages to come back to later, little snippets that resonated with me. There is a list of trigger warnings at the start of the book, and the poems do touch on some tough topics.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

I love poetry because in a way, it relates to what the author experienced and sometimes those experiences resonated with me. There are a large amount of TW. THe poems that I was able to relate to, I adored. Now with poetry it is difficult to appeal to all audiences but Parker had some thoughts that captivated me. Overall a great piece!

Thanks Netgalley and Central Avenue Publishing for approving my request in exchange for an honest review.

"there is so much to life to be lived, but we must find the will to live it."

I've been a fan of Cyrus Parker since his debut poetry book, Dropkick Romance. His latest poetry collection tackles anxiety, eating disorder, gender dysphoria and more, Most poems are relatable, affirmative, honest, hopeful and personal. I didn't connect to all poems as most were written on a pesonal level, I loved the parts that encourage to be hopeful, like these parts:

"there is so much to life to be lived, but we must find the will to live it." and "do all of the thigns that make you happy and share them with the world because we could all use a little more joy in our lives."

Thank you to Netgalley & Central Avenue Publishing for 'granting my wish'. I had was not sure what I was getting into with Cyrus Parker's poetry, but I am not disappointed. I loved reading all of the poems in this book, and I have several favourites highlighted already. They did a great job highlighting emotions, the coffee bits made me smile, and diving into deeper feelings felt as though it flowed. Until the end notes, I had no idea that they were married to Amanda Lovelace, but that context is also cool to consider. Overall, I really enjoyed these poems, and I look forward to buying this book when it comes out in September!

they say a picture is worth a thousand words,
but sometimes the clearest pictures are painted by the words
that go unsaid

This is a collection of poems and prose / aphorisms and I think the title is quite self- explanatory.
It's nicely crafted.
Coffee-days poems - the more hopeful ones- are on white pages, while the darker, whiskey-nights ones -on black pages.
Not my most favorite type of poetry, more in the style of " Instagram poems" / if there's such a term at all / and it took me less than half an hour to finish the entire book,

It deals with a specter of topics topics- from mental health and depression to hope and self-care.

I'm sure each reader will have a different favorite part, as poetry interpretation is subjective and resonates differently with each reader. Mine is below.

what happens when
you think you've hit rock bottom but the bottom
keeps falling out.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.

TW / TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Anxiety, depression, alcohol use, death, eating disorders, gender dysmorphia, toxic relationships.

This collection of poetry and the way it discussed themes of hope, was beautiful.. Some of the words resonated with me deeply and I often had to put the book down just to collect my thoughts. Cyrus Parker has an eloquent way with words and the delicacy with the topics they discuss. I wish this collection was longer.

What both love and scares me about Cyrus's poems is that they have this ability to seem like they are talking directly to me and know everything I'm most embarrassed and sad about.
I loved the duality of this edition and how the design of the book furthered the theme of the poems and how beautiful the cover is.
I didn't connect with every poem, some felt to hallmark for me but the ones I did connect with, I absolutely loved and are the reason why they are one of my favorite poets and I jump at every announcement.
Oh and as always if you want to be absolutely eviscerated, try the poems they write about their wife because those slay me every time.
Thank you to Central Avenue Publishing, NetGalley and Edelweiss+ for this DRC.

I  received a free digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't my style of poetry. I couldn't connect with the poems.

A pretty quick read for me. I read this at 8.30 in the morning on the couch with a blanket and a hot chocolate and read it in one sitting. Its one of those collections that you feel inspired or at peace after reading, you want to be better than you have been, and stronger than you are now. This may be a poetry collection but it is a story in itself and while i couldn't relate to every aspect in the collection, the author gives you that perspective. I think this is a great collection for anyone who likes modern poetry or anyone who is struggling at the moment. Its wild how a string of pretty and ugly words can make us feel understood like never before.

I had high hopes for Coffee Days Whiskey Nights because I loved the poet’s collection, Masquerade. I’ve read other poetry collections from the publishers and have found the standard to be really high. I really enjoyed this. The poems take the style I’ve come to accept from modern poetry, short, snappy, social-media esque and very personal. Parker is very similar to other modern poets such as Sin, Leav and Faudet, poets I’ve also enjoyed. I do prefer my poems to be longer and deeper and say more but modern poetry like those to be found here is nice to dip into now and then when I want something a little less intense. I preferred the longer poems as they were richer and had a little more depth. The collection has alternating pages in black and white, I assume to represent days and nights and the print colour alternated as well (i.e. white print on a black page). This served no real purpose as far as I could see and came across as gimmicky.

Coffee Days Whiskey Nights by Cyrus Parker is the author's latest published collection. Parker is a non-binary poet and storyteller, as well as the author of multiple poetry collections, including DROPKICKromance and masquerade.

This book was a special request on my part as it is from Central Avenue Publishers. Their [Dis]Connected Volume One and Two introduced me to several young poets, including Alicia Cook and Yena Sharma Purmasirm. Included in Volume One are poems by Parker. I went back to my earlier copy, and although Parker was not my favorite poet, his work showed promise, and since it had been two years [Dis]Connected had been published, I wanted to see how the poet had grown.

Ironically, Parker's second poem in [Dis]Connected rings true with me concerning his new collection:

the older I get
the harder it to relate
to those around me
-Start - Power - Shut Down

I have developed a taste for poetry after college and graduate school. My preferences seem to fall in line with people my age and older. As I told another poet, "I can read Whitman all day and Byron all night." However, the newest style of poetry to evolve has me at a loss. Short, emotion-filled lines that resemble disembodied rock lyrics from the 1970s doesn't say poetry to me. Granted, the young folks love this type of writing, and I often see or hear, "I don't usually like poetry, but i like this." I think perhaps it is to poetry as texting is to letter writing. Maybe the same tree but indeed a different branch. Despite this style's popularity and lack of a defining name, I can't classify it as poetry in my mind.

"Who am I make that statement?" is also probably a good question. I have a liberal arts degree but chose to work as a mechanic, and Coffee Days Whiskey Nights sounds like a mechanic's creed. I was excited by the title. I liked the longer poems that were over a dozen lines long. I also appreciated the alternating black and white pages with the contrasting print representing days and nights. Some nice touches will attract new readers and Parker will, and should be recognized on the same level as Sin, Leav, and Faudet.

This is where I am torn as a reviewer. My tastes do not include this in the canon of poetry, but professionally will this be a successful book is obviously yes. If you are younger than forty, this is something you'll enjoy. If you are in your fifties, to borrow from Parker, "the older I get/ the harder it is to relate."

This poetry book wasn’t what I expected at all, but I really enjoyed it.
Each poem flowed into the next that had the book feeling more like a book of verse than a collection of poems. The formatting is really clever, but perhaps doesn’t come off as well on an e-reader. I’ll definitely be purchasing this book so I look forward to seeing how it translates onto paper.
The juxtapositions between the feelings felt in morning and night were very powerful.
I suffer with anxiety and depression and found myself really resonating with some of darker sections. The poems where anxiety specifically were mentioned made me feel like I’m not alone in my feelings, as you can sometimes feel you are.
I read it in one sitting and I really liked how it ended uplifting and positive.

I'm still sitting with how this book made me feel. It's an extended monologue, really, that tells of one person's challenges with gender dysphoria, drinking and eating problems and mental health concerns. Mostly (completely without having read anything by Hemingway) it made me feel as though this wrote into the stereotype that is commonly associated with the tortured writer.

Although I felt a lot of this being written under cover of candlelight (that was just the tone of the writing, not necessarily a description) it covered both daytime and nighttime hours. And it did so through writing in different kinds of text to separate them, almost as though the thoughts from differing times of day were separate characters.

I found that there was a lot in here that I related to. I also found that I liked a lot more of the stuff written to describe those dark night of the soul hours.

For me, this was a collection that's pretty nostalgic. It's very self-centric, which I think was a good thing, and it was also a series of thoughts and feelings that I think take most creative people at a particular point in their lives. The reason why it was nostalgic for me was that I remember being in a lot of the places described, though I'm not there anymore.

It's a short collection, which can be read in one sitting. I feel as though there is something to the thoughts and meanderings that sometimes seem disconnected that would have grow in depth upon a second reading.

As always, this author puts together an interesting collection, though I wouldn't necessarily call this one poetry so much as eloquent prose.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I always love Cyrus Parker's work, and was so excited to be able to get an early copy of their latest collection via Netgalley. I really liked the way this collection was put together, with white pages corresponding with mornings, coffee, hope, and optimism, and black pages corresponding with night, whiskey, and feelings of exhaustion. As a writer myself, I found the constant back and forth of these sections really relatable—the relentless hope and drive to create, coupled with constant doubt that your creation will make a difference or that your work and your life will have any meaning at all. I love the way this collection sits with both the dark and the light, and gives a place for all feelings to take shape and breathe while you sit with them—acknowledging them and coming to terms with the light and dark inside of you.

Cyrus Parker balances his daytime and evening thoughts and reflections while striving to focus on the hope that the future brings.

Just. Wow. This poetry is impactful and powerful. I just could not put it down and was blown away. Everyone should read this. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Lovely collection of poems that were devoured in one sitting. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc!