Thank you to NetGalley & the publishers for the ARC! I wasn't really sure how to feel about this collection. Ryan sews together poems that touch on performative masculinity, death, unrestrained acquiescence to sport / passion. But I kept feeling that these sentiments missed the mark in execution, often seeming surface-level or too abstract. Poetry is certainly subjective so perhaps I just wasn't the right audience, but I didn't feel a connection to any of these poems — frankly I found it very difficult at times to even comprehend the story Ryan was attempting to convey. Stellar cover though.

this read was interesting--poetry inspired by real life tends to lean a little less pretty, and this at times became dense and prosaic. there was some beauty here, for sure, but this took me much longer to digest because of the sheer density of each individual piece. if you prefer wordier poetry this may be for you, but if you like something that's a little sparser this is not a good fit.

Thanks to NetGalley and FSG For the ARC!

Declan Ryan’s "Crisis Actor" is a collection built on sparring impulses, often ducking and weaving between them when it should perhaps choose a champion.

There are some interesting themes here about masculinity as a kind of performance, and the recurrent poems about boxing allow Ryan to pick at how theatricality becomes a kind of reality. Likewise, there is a constant question of what we do with violence—whether it can truly be externalized, as seen in the titular poem.

Perhaps surprisingly, and to the poems’ strength, it is not machismo that pulses throughout the work but a desire for gentleness. The boxers populating the book seem to playact their roles while hoping for something more, but it’s truly shocking how many of their lives end violently. It’s a unifying thread in a collection that sometimes woozily struggles to find its center, much like a boxer after a losing fight.

As for the poems themselves—I did not love them. This is purely a matter of preference, but many of these pieces feel like the archetype of a poemly poem, and they do little to challenge the form. There is literally a poem called “Halcyon Days.” Furthermore, Ryan writes so much about men in the ring that it begins to highlight his distance from it. We never move past a fan’s perspective. As such, the historicity begins to slip into romanticized sterility, and I think it occasionally works against the book as a whole. There’s an argument to be made that this is the poet’s intent—to address the way we objectify real people, particularly men, in a way that precludes their humanity. Regardless, it never quite clicked for me, and the juxtaposition with the more “tender” poems feels incidental more than meaningful. I think this book would be stronger if it prioritized one style over the other.

Even so, the beauty of poetry is that it is highly subjective, and I can see this being a great collection for self-proclaimed poetry haters, especially those who view art as diametrically opposed to sports. Declan Ryan sees the two in constant conversation, and he writes in such a way that even the most resistant reader will feel welcomed into the discussion.

This collection spans so much, bringing a delicate hand to brutal sport in ways I didn't think boxing could be represented. Ryan's writing reminds me so much of Hanif Abdurraqib in this collection--tangling sport and love and life and grief together into a complex series of reflections. Some of these poems are shapeshifters and I already know I want to go back and re-read this book several times, getting something new and different each time. What an excellent debut. Thank you netgalley for the advanced copy!

A wonderful collection of what one might call historical poems. Boxing plays an integral part to several of the poems and so I found it interesting how it meshed with the collections themes of memory, devotion and loss.

An interesting subject matter with dark, gritty poetry. It isn't only about boxing, but that is the main focus. If Fight Club had a poet laureate, Ryan would be it.

There was something about this collection of poetry that felt distant and direct. I enjoyed the content and praise the author for writing poetry about boxers.

A nostalgic poetry collection, looking at boxers, including legends like Ali. Not all poems are about boxing, but also about reflecting on the past, missing people, and fate.

Hits hard and cuts deep. That is how I'd describe the work of Declan Ryan in his new collection. There is a gritty reality that belies a hidden beauty and sweetness. Like the boxers he writes about throughout this collection, Ryan leaves everything out on the matt here