Loved the representation and the #OwnVoices collection of poetry. As someone who writes poetry about my own experiences as a gay man, this was a nice way to see inside the mind of a different perspective.

What an absolutely beautiful and emotional book of poetry. It just took me on a journey through the author’s psyche and their journey accepting their gender identity. I loved this and will be recommending to many of my friends.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3893531275

Thank you Netgalley for my free copy of this book.

Please come off book is a collection of prose and poems by Kevin Kantor. It is a powerful collection of modern poetry covering such topics as theater, family gender, transphobia, homophobia, suicide, rape, covid 19.
I really enjoyed this book, enjoying the author's take and sometimes resonating with his thoughts and feelings towards gender identity.
However, I was not really taken with the theatre and drama aspects and didn't find myself being all that interested in it because I did not know the nuances of how theater/ drama works. This, therefore, meant that I didn't really connect or feel the impact of all the poetry in this collection.

This collection of poetry was very relatable to me as a queer person. I really enjoyed it and would definitely read more from this author.

As a queer person myself, I felt a strong connection to many of the pieces in this book. I particularly liked "AFTER HE TELLS ME THAT POEMS ARE FOR HOPELESS ROMANTICS, I TELL HIM" as it reflected my own attitude toward poetry and the magic of wordcraft. I feel like I need to go back through the collection again just to be sure I got my fill of their story.

One of my 2021 goals is to read more poetry, so when I saw Please Come Off-Book on NetGalley, I knew I had to read it. I've been acting since I was ten, which is a long time, longer than I haven't been. Often we speak about the amazing things that come out of classes and shows and rehearsal rooms, but not often enough do we talk about the negatives in the industry. The judgment we all face, much more than others, day to day and how hard it can be to keep going while staying healthy and being true to yourself. As a queer theatre artist, I am honestly so thankful I've found this collection.

Many of the lines in this collection punched me in the gut; they offered truths many theatre artists are not ready to face. One, in particular, was the makeup classes. I've taken many makeup classes throughout my life and I can attest to having seen what Kevin Kantor wrote in real-time.

"... when we reach the end of the act we drift back to ourselves with someone else's tears still in our
eyes, straddling the divide between a fabricated familiarity and
cheap green room coffee..."
One of the main elements that struck me about this collection is how theatre embeds itself in our minds. What happens on stage each night is as much real as it is not. More of my memories than not take place in the theatre during rehearsals or performances that it's almost impossible to distinguish between me and the characters I and my castmates were playing. Our lives are ruled and run by the stories we tell.

Kevin Kantor has created a collection that is both a love letter and a question to theatre. They wrote an exploration of a binaried and flawed art form, an ode and a reprimand- a challenge even. As theatre begins to pop back up we must ask ourselves how we will be moving forward, and who exactly we will be championing in our new landscape.

"so glory to the queers who live to see the credits roll
glory to the blockbusters that are not built upon a curbstomp"


"

I have always been a huge fan of Button Poetry (and poetry in general), so I was super excited to pick this up! This was such a work of art, simple as that. This collection was raw, heartbreaking, and real. I could definitely see myself revisiting this in the future!

Kantor has written a soul-bearing book of poems. Truth and honest are in every page. Their grief, struggles with depression and identity are written in a way that doesn't hold back. The poems are beautifully crafted both in language and shape. Lines such as these will stay with you long after you've finished reading:

"remember how busy you were
trying to figure out how they got in

that you forgot
about the person living there"

This is a book that needs to exist. Nonbinary voices are difficult to find and so very necessary. May this book find its way to the hands of nonbinary youth who can know their struggles are not singular that others know their experience and that they can push forward through the struggles.

"We are from different stories,
could only ever whisper in the wings,
& yet the men who found us, love us
share a sound that would suggest
The possibility
of something else"
Please Come Off-Book is a powerful punch-to-the-gut poetry collection that simultaneously felt like a comforting hand on the shoulder letting me know that maybe my feelings are, in fact, valid, as a fellow nonbinary person.
This is a stunning collection, probably one of my favorite modern poetry collections that I've read over the last couple of years. I'm always eager for more work by queer, nonbinary artists and this felt like exactly what I was looking to read right now.

When I saw this book - a poetry collection by a non-binary author, about theatre! - I immediately knew I wanted to read it; I am extremely pleased to say that it lived up to my hopes.

"Please Come Off Book" is a powerful, poignant collection of modern poetry built around major themes of gender, queerness, theatre, and family. These are often the explicit subjects of poems, but just as often are framing devices or casual asides; making their presence known, but not overpowering the more immediate or specific topics of the poems.

Kantor is unafraid to play with form and style, and the results are very effective; the words of one poem shape a sailboat and waves, and another plays with line spacing in an almost disorienting experience. Throughout, the language is gorgeous, the images are vivid, and the emotions are unfiltered and powerful. I found the majority of the poems to be beautifully crafted and evocative; there were a few which did not, in my opinion, match the emotional resonance and loveliness in language of the rest of the poems, but on the whole I was extremely impressed. Writing good poetry is hard, and Kantor does it well.

Some personal favorites (I've abbreviated the longer names for ease of readability in review format!) : "My Mother, Pregnant With Her Third Child ..."; "Character Study: Enkidu"; "Stage Makeup Syllabus"; "The Man Playing My Father"; "Dress Rehearsal: Final Dress".

I very much hope we'll see more poetry from Kantor in the future! Thanks to Netgalley and Button Poetry, for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I fell in love with Kevin's poetry several years ago after seeing a video of their poem People You May Know. It was one of those pieces that just rested in my chest for a while after. I felt the same when Write About Now posted a video of I Am Sure (then written as I'm Sure in the video's caption). It had me in tears and I still think about that piece every now and then. So I was so glad both pieces found a place within this collection. Kevin's work is equal parts powerful, beautiful, eye opening, and gut punching with some playfulness throughout. This collection is truly something special.

Thank you to Kevin Kantor, Button Poetry, and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

{Digital copy provided by NetGalley}

This is a vivid, powerful, and very queer collection of poetry and I loved every second of it. The language used is stunning, the social critique biting, and the theater woven into everything absolutely lovely. I bookmarked more than a dozen poems that I especially loved, and look forward to buying a physical copy to shove into all my friends and family’s faces!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC of this book.

"so glory to the queers who live to see the credits role
glory to the blockbusters that are not built upon a curb stomp"

This collection is original, personal, and gut-wrenching. In particular, the poems surrounding queer representation and gender identity are hard-hitting and raw, and Kevin Kantor is a wonderfully fresh new voice whose writing I hope to see more of in the future.

Exquisitely written poems about an experience I've never had, that none the less were hard hitting and beautiful to read. Though one poem left me less than impressed - the swear word on repeat for the whole of it - I thoroughly enjoyed Please Come Off-Book and devoured it in one sitting, making a mental note of all my favourite lines to share with friends once I'm able to buy them a copy.

'Please Come Off-Book' is the sort of collection that will see you veering from heart-aching honesty to laugh-out-loud hilarity. Kantor seamlessly weaves the theatrical and the personal in a dazzling conversation around identity, family, and the difficulty in being yourself in a world determined to impose it's own restrictive boundaries. This is not just a collection of flawless poetry, but an unflinching conversation around the repercussions that can exist when living your truth. And yet, though the poems explore themes such as suicidal ideation, grief, rejection, and prejudice, there is always a sense of hope for a better, kinder, and fairer world.

Really enjoyed this collection of poems, there is a mix of styles, one is even shaped like a boat which is very clever and effective. Others worked less well. The poet has really experimented and been open and non binary in the way they are choosing to explore their keys themes; a love of theatre and their own gender identity. There is also a moving poem about being a survivor with amazingly evocative last lines and another one about Pride in the fullest sense of its meaning. A wonderful, moving, fun, poignant collection.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an ARC in exchange for a review.

Thank you so much to Button Poetry for providing me with an Arc of this poetry collection in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely adored these poems. This is the first time I head anything from this poet before but I definitely love their work! A few of my favourite poems are:

People You May Know (very hard-hitting and powerful)
Secondary Character (really loved it!)
I Am Scrolling Through Instagram and Crying (The title alone was so relatable and I really loved this poem!)
I Am Sure (Very powerful)
The Director Gives Me Notes After Our First Run-Through (To say this poem stuck with me so much, I had to take a few moments to recollect myself afterwards)
Rewrites (Shakespeare plays but make it queer, do I need to say anymore? As an Englis major and queer person I adored this)

I will definitely be on the lookout for more of this poet's work in the future!

Clever words from Kevin Kantor. Though I am new to the poet’s work, there was much here to enjoy and I look forward to reading more of this creator’s work soon.

I received a free ARC for an honest review from Netgalley. I had trouble deciding what to rate this, but decided on 3 1/2 stars.
It is difficult to rate poetry. I normally rate based on enjoyment but am trying to rate more on the quality of books. I enjoyed this book at times and others it was a little hard to get through.
I can't relate to most of the content in this book. I picked this up because I am always trying to better educate myself on things like this. I could feel the emotions and pain from the writer.
This was well written and different, I just had a hard time getting through some poems. I know this will be a favorite for lots of people.

The only appropriate way to describe "Please Come Off-Book" is eye-opening. You won't look at life the same way after experiencing these words, after rotating the book to follow the narrative, after wiping your tears away only for more to arise.

While the queer representation and title critique of American culture is certainly more honest than most readers can handle, the poetry provides the same tear-jerking effect, though not in the way you might expect. These are not your classic poems filled to the brim with literary devices and meta themes. In my interpretation, they are straightforward and honest, which in a twisted way is just as though-provoking as poetry that is indecipherable. For example, the explicit analysis of suicide, self harm, and trauma seems like equivocation but the realization that it is simply a monologue provides a sense of omnipotence; depression overcomes all, even a complex writing style. As a reader who has struggled with most (not all) of the principal topics of discussion, I would have appreciated a trigger warning in the beginning of the book. Kevin Kantor wrote the truth, and in this book like in life, the truth is not sugarcoated.

Another element of "Please Come Off-Book" I am impressed with is the structure. Before I realized the book is organized like a play, I recognized the similarities in the structural role that trauma plays in your life (thanks to therapy). The parts of the book are as follows, and their corresponding representation of trauma:

1. Inciting Incident (the traumatic event, experience, or accident).
2. Rising Action (the PTSD, anxiety, or long-lasting emotions surfacing in your daily life and the descent into despair).
3. Climax (hitting rock bottom, for example attempting suicide or isolating yourself to avoid facing your emotions).
4. Denouement (reaching out for help, receiving guidance, bridging the Climax and Transformation).
5. Transformation (reaching happiness or your goal by overcoming the anxiety or emotions caused by the trauma).

If there's anything to say about "Please Come Off-Book," it's that it is the simplest but most complex, darkest yet most optimistic, and most derogatory yet most promising book you'll read. If only there were more than 88 pages!

Overall Rating: PG-13
Language: PG-13
Adult Content: PG-13
Violence: R

Recommended For and Similar Reads: "Please Come Off-Book" is a mind-boggling, heartwarming, inspirational read for mature teenagers who are looking for in insight on the treatment of queer people and the effects of said treatment. Similar reads are "Impulse" by Ellen Hopkins, "Calling in Black" by Nicholle Ramsey, and "Butcher" by Natasha T Miller.