I was sent this book by Netgalley a few months ago in exchange for an honest review but only just got round to reading it properly fairly recently so I thought I'd review it now.

So... here goes.

In 'Plenitude', we find ourselves with another anthology of poems, particularly about politics and human rights (particularly today's climate and transgender rights) and, whilst I'm not transgender myself, I can't deny I thought about the hardships they face at the moment. I hope that one day the transgender community can pick up this book and read it without feeling the prejudices they fear and they will hopefully realise that they are not alone. I certainly stand with them and it's wonderful that Daniel has put this collection together for the world to read and see.

PS: My favourite poem has to be 'trans-socialist'. Four stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

WOW. I read this super quick and loved it. It was educational and also inspirational, if you have a chance and wanna learn more of non-binary folks I would for sure recommend this to you!

AMAZING book of poetry. Deals with gender identity, activism, rebellion, joy, and desire. Very original.

**I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Big thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

Today I've been reading an eARC of Plenitude by Daniel Sarah Karasik supplied by @netgalley.

This brief book of poetry encompasses a huge political, emotional, passionate explosion in response to the bigoted world that we live in.

At first I wasn't sure I was enjoying the experience of reading this. I could feel the passion behind the word but wasn't sure I understood the message behind even half of it.

But as I read on I felt swept up in a wave of words and the space between.

I'm left feeling ...strongly. Empowered and wrung out and full of rage.

This book is an experience which I am very glad to have had.

April is National Poetry Month. Poetry is part of my regular reading, but since it is a time of recognition, I will be doing reviews of both ARCs and other books on my shelf. First up, an ARC I received via NetGalley, Plenitude, by Daniel Sarah Karasik.

When I pick up a book by an author I have not read before, the first thing I do is Google them. Karasik is the author of five other books, including plays, poetry, and short stories. Five! How fortunate for me that there is a back catalog to read now that I’ve had a taste of their work.

This collection of poetry is a demonstration of how so many different issues intersect and overlap. Karasik tackles not only sexuality and gender, but human rights, Palestine. It's personal and political. It’s the kind of poetry that you read and reread because there are just so many layers to unpack.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, 3.5 rounded up for star rating.

Sample some of their poetry on their website and then get your copy of Plenitude, by Daniel Sarah Karasik on April 7.

Plenitude is a great read for my poetry friends. The author is non-binary and the focus of this collection is trans rights, human rights and politically freedom. A world without cops. Poetry without metaphors. This book was refreshing to read and made me think deeper. Thanks to NetGalley for the early read. Definitely a good pick for my LGBTQ+ fam.

by Cyrus Pacht; a version of this forthcoming on Defunkt Magazine’s book review blog

First of all, I do not want to review Plenitude. In the wake of reading its poems, “review” strikes me as narrow, juridical, prematurely conclusive. It’s a word that summons images of stentorian judges in powdered wigs antsily stroking their gavels, weighing evidence, approaching a verdict: to read or not to read? Otherwise it evokes the nostalgic scene of televised film critics pondering like infants whether their thumbs would go more suitably up or down. To some readers, who do not recognize authors and critics as ‘writers’ alike, it would appear wars are constantly being waged between the two groups. When the critic deems a book to be worthwhile, a truce with the author is reached, honored; when it’s found wanting or worthless, all bets are off.
Plenitude, Daniel Sarah Karasik’s sixth book and second poetry collection, certainly falls into the ‘worthwhile’ category, though it makes me feel silly for pointing it out. Karasik is an expert leveler of dichotomies, reshaping or obliterating not just the ‘yea or nay’ arena of book-recommending, but distinctions like identity/universality, art/activism, passion/exploitation, Palestinian/Jew, sex/gender. (For those interested in mapping the dichotomies onto the poems, I’m thinking mainly of “messianic time,” “Where Tear Gas Can’t Reach,” “make/work,” and the gravely moving “silences” for the first four. Sex and gender feature throughout, and cannot be pinned to specific poems.)
Reconsiderations of identity guide the collection. From “messianic time” (“imagine there were no oppression to shape our identities. instead: / limitless forms of descriptive difference…”) to the magnificently teasing title poem, Karasik seeks whatever self might exist behind the bland facade of identity. In “Plenitude,” the poet celebrates themself, à la Whitman, in this fantasy incarnated with “a cock & pussy both.” It is an invigorating moment of discovery, and it’s also worth noting that this is the first book that introduces Karasik with “they/them” pronouns on the jacket; this may be read as the “coming out poem” right in the middle of the collection. A character emerges—a straw-woman stand-in for TERFs—to admonish the speaker for desiring female genitalia:

c’mon, admit
that craving to appropriate
a pussy (given all you have,
all your enormous privilege) is, frankly,
entitled—acquisitive.

But our narrator is undeterred, and has no bashfulness about ‘them-splaining’ the nature of womanhood to the TERF:

I say: do you believe these things
are zero-sum? Like, when I claim dissatisfaction
with my cock alone, and voice a wish
to have a cunt also—do you think
this requires someone else lose their own?
As if the global store of cunts
were finite?

For the speaker of “Plenitude” is utterly confident that by saving themself, they can save the world. Actualizing themself and living authentically will give others permission to do the same. The ‘plenitude’ of the title, as I understand it, refers to the non-zero-sum quality of all forms of liberation in Karasik’s vision. The only poem that gets a chapter all to itself, “trans-socialist,” is a manifesto of economic-erotic liberation politics. No more than five lines per page, blanketed by white space, “trans-socialist” defines and redefines itself at every turn,

as in a public that would be good and safe for trans people
…

as in a communism that would abolish debates over when and how
to say “communism.”
…

as in the condition in which gender is transformed because it’s no
longer mobilized to serve institutions of social domination.

as in the condition in which gender is reborn as pure play.

This societal rebirth through gender-norm-less communism is articulated bluntly and earnestly; it’s all laid out with a retro-commie yet futuristic aesthetic which wouldn’t cause eyes to be batted on Twitter, but in literature this level of openness to speculation and something like nostalgia is refreshing. (Plenitude even bears the epigraph, “For my comrades.”) At the collection’s weakest—“stages of grief,” “transparencies,” and “innocence isn’t the opposite of violence,” for my money—the poems come across as either obvious or jargon-laden, academic. Few writers attempt half as much as Daniel Sarah Karasik does here, however, and almost none can prophesy or spitball publicly half as gracefully.

Plenitude is a collection of poetry ranging in topics from trans rights to geo-political injustice. Karasik has a very verbose way with words and uses it well to speak from the heart. I found I enjoyed the poems that focused on their gender and also their Jewish heritage the most. The political poems are well written and very insightful but tended to go into the territory of unapproachable by the average citizen. This is not to say that they are bad or poorly written (quite frankly it's the opposite) but more to the fact that reading them became a little tedious and confusing in some parts. It definitely forced me to take my time and re-read a few.

I like the way the collection is divided in it's sections, specifically that the poem "trans-socialist" was broken up over multiple pages in it's own section.

My favorite poems are: "trans-socialist", "either/or", and "a simile is more honest than a metaphor thank you no questions at this time."

Plenitude is a collection of poems about todays political climate, trans rights and human rights.

I think these poems are so important! I’m not trans so I won’t pretend to understand the experience of being a trans person and the hardships that that must bring. I can only imagine how great it will be for trans people to be able to turn to these poems and hopefully feel less alone. I think that this is a super powerful thing and I’m so glad the author has put these poems out in the world!

In terms of the poetry itself I did enjoy it, however personally I like poetry that is more metaphorical and lyrical, which I understand is not the authors style. Nonetheless the poems were still deeply honest. I really respect that the author didn’t hold back their political views and talked honestly about the issues in todays world. It’s not often that you see this done in literature.

One thing that I didn’t particularly care for was the use of ‘internet slang’ such as “idk”. I just would have preferred it without! I would say if you’re looking for more emotive and lyrical poetry then this collection may not be for you.

Daniel Sarah Karasik’s “Plenitude” is a futuristic rallying cry for a generalisation of identity and society. These verses/passages are dense, kinetic and intelligent; rhythmic and often profane - adult trans-formative poetry for an undefined future.
Daniel Sarah Karasik’s work is political, angry and confrontational, and it is quite breathtaking. The key poem is “trans-socialist” in which Karasik dreams of a society in which everything is, rather than one in which everything has to be something - a kind of communism (a term used with caution here) where we don’t have to worry about saying “communism” and “gender is reborn as pure play”.
The poems are vital and sexy, in fact downright filthy in parts, often darkly funny but always screamingly honest. Karasik works hard at making you (the reader or anyone) like them and accept them, while at the same time liking and accepting themselves. Chapters are illustrated with striking graffiti art which suits the contents well.
I know nothing about the trans condition but I like the future being created here, and I can enjoy this excellent poetry for what it is.

This book of poetry is highly political, which might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it worked for me. I think modern poetry readers tend to want things that are radical and making strong statements, which these poems deliver on. The language isn't too elevated, and the base meaning of most poems is very clear, which I enjoyed. The deeper, less obvious readings are still there, but easier to parse because of the initial accessibility of the text. The images are imaginative and bold, and the statements are solid and defended.

This book is electric and vibrant, and doesn't shy back from saying exactly what needs to be said. A great read for people concerned with politics, rebellion, and dreams of joyous freedom.

Lovely collection— Maybe a little too on-the-nose with some political insights, but I think I prefer convoluted poetry steeped in metaphor lol. I think this is an accessible collection for anyone looking to get into poetry that has radical themes of queerness & collective action!

This is a collection of poems both personal and political, with abolitionist themes as well as exploring the trans experience and neurodivergency (specifically autism).

This collection is honestly pretty hard to explain but it's passionate, and well-written, and I could imagine it being read aloud beautifully. It covers many important topics all personal to the author, it's something completely different and is a breath of fresh air, definitely recommend.

My favourite poems in this collection are portrait of the autist as a young whatever and “tough but fair”. I really enjoyed this book and would love to read more poetry by Karasik. Their words are strung together so well and their poems have so much strength. I wish I could write like this.

Let me say this....If you want to interview this author, read the book first...as to why I say that is because, the poems answered all the questions I would have had for this author. This book would be most appreciated by people who are politically outspoken and that is not me.
I do like the book and it's understandable why the author wrote these poems. I do applaud the author to be outspoken and writing the poems. I would never had the guts to do it.

I received a free copy of the book and is voluntarily writing a review

This is a great example of intersectionality in all ways. Plentitude tackles so many different social issues, not only in regards to race, sexuality, gender, and neurodivergency, but also topics suh as abuse, and shows it through poetry. I have had poetry be explained to me as the most "tame" form of media, in the sense that my instructors thought that poetry is inherently non-political, which Karasik greatly challenged in Plentitude.

The way the poems were structured, specifically the gapping between some of the stanzas that causes one poem to span across several pages is amazing. Each poem's structure just drives home the point of each of them for me, the deliberate page breaks giving more time to process what is being said through each of them.

Plenitude is a collection of poems that explore political and personal struggle, fighting for a better world, and understanding self and desire. Karasik combines a lot of the personal and political in the poems, looking at tensions between them, and this works well in poetry as a form that is often thought to be very personal, regardless of whether it is.

Some of my favourites were shorter ones with a specific focus, like 'Tight Pants' and 'anything you want', which are both witty and relatable explorations of gender and identity. I also liked 'trans-socialist' in both content and formatting, a poem that presents definitions and tensions in self and community.

The strongest poems in this book are the short ones - these are where Karasik shows off their rare talent of packing a real punch with words. The virtue of knowing when a piece is complete and not stretching it beyond it’s strength is a rare one in poetry, and Karasik has a talent for it.

This book tackles the complexity of our multiple identities and how they interact with each other and it does so well. While the language itself is more literal than what I prefer, and I would be much more compelled by pieces a bit richer with metaphor, symbolism, or simple focus, I think the author does an excellent job of capturing their singular experience and doing so in a way that I’m sure will speak to others.

A good read, some very thought provoking poems. Great collection. Some of the poems are quite hard hitting due to way certain people see the world and the people in it, e.g trans.