This one hurt but I find that the poetry that hurts are the ones that are remembered and I will remember this book for a long time. It was hard to follow at first but I kept reading and I was able to grasp an understanding of what the author was trying to share with us. Reading a poetry book gives you a chance to view the world how the author views it and living in a world while dealing with mental issues and your sexuality is so lonely and difficult. This book will be relatable to those that are dealing with those topics.

Wow. A million times, wow. Tin House has yet to fail me, but Rob Macaisa Colgate's poetry collection, Hardly Creatures, absolutely blew me away. If you only pick up one book of poetry this year, may it be this one. These poems are a tribute to love and friendship and intimacy and access; they are an ode to disability. The author offers up vulnerability in spades, and we, the readers, are gifted with writing that is both intensely personal, while also feeling accessible and relatable. While many of the individual poems will stick with me for a long, long time (Hopescrolling, Eli Interprets, and Three Translations of an Email to My Boss immediately come to mind), I also feel that the book's greatest strength lies in the *collection* of poems--read one after another==as they come together to create a fully immersive gallery experience.

Thank you to Tin House and NetGalley for my advanced copy.

"We’re hardly creatures, the way we love each other. I nod, but can’t stop thinking about the crows that love each other, the salamander that loves itself, the crows that only know caregiving, the salamander that only knows survival, every creature forever feeding whatever mouth is in front of them either born knowing how to love or picking it up down the line."

To have a serious mental health disability, as the author does (schizoaffective disorder) I can only assume, is very challenging to live with. Schizoaffective disorder is having BOTH schizophrenia and a mood disorder (either depression or bipolar disorder). I have just one of these (bipolar disorder) and I know how hard it is. I also have a mentally handicapped older sister, so I can also relate to the other aspects of the author's words. I volunteered every summer in high school at my sister's summer camp for mentally and physically disabled children. Working with kids like that changes you.

The style of poetry in this book is very stream of consciousness. At first I felt it was difficult to follow, but I tried to open my mind, loosen up, and just go with the flow. Once I freed my mind from the normal constraints that I put on it, it was then that I started understanding. I was able to appreciate what the author was saying. And most of this book is NOT structured poetry, so please do not go into this book expecting that. This is like poems mixed with memoir mixed with manic episode. It reminded me a whole lot of I'm Telling the Truth But I'm Lying by Bassey Ikpi.

The formatting in the ebook ARC I received from Net Galley was not the best, as I feel there was a specific layout that was intended for this book, but it all ran together making it a little more difficult to decipher what the author was intending with certain passages. I will certainly not hold this against the author, but I will buy a print copy of this because it deserves a place in my collection and I want to see what the author intended with the formatting.

I really enjoyed this collection and I feel the author has some important insight into living with a serious mental health diagnosis and also being a gay man. He voices his thoughts on various issues - mental health, being gay in this modern age of everyone PrEPing, healthcare and daily struggles of just - being alive. Highly recommend for anyone who wants to try to understand. He has a sharp talent that shines through despite what the universe has thrown at him. Excellent excellent.

"I am trying to learn to speak less as a way of speaking and more as a way of proving that I exist."

Many thanks to Net Galley, Tin House and the author for the enook ARC in exchange for my honest review.

@tin_house is pretty much always a home run for me, so I’m not surprised that I loved this collection—but I was still surprised by its unique loveliness. HARDLY CREATURES uses a legend of access cues to guide the reader through the poet’s take on the experience of disability. And it was a moving journey. The collection uses many poetic forms, crosses over many topics, stays accessible but also fresh, unique, and at times experimental. I was truly moved and expanded by reading HARDLY CREATURES.

An interactive museum! What an interesting concept. 100 pages or so that were meaningful. I will definitely recommend for Acquistion.

Thank you to Netgalley for this poetry collection arc of Hardly Creatures. This cover drew me in, but I really enjoyed this book. The cover and poems were so descriptive and meaningful. This is such a short book, a little over 100ish pages, can be read in one sitting.

I thoroughly enjoyed how this book of poems is crafted into an interactive museum-- a museum of the poet, of each of us, of humans existing right now. Sometimes poems with pop culture references are off putting, but being of this moment, they felt especially lived in and cozy because I had access to that language and space. I think the interactive museum format invites the feelings one has at a museum, to poke and prod, to touch and not to touch, to see some versions of some truths.

A beautiful and formally inventive collection that invites readers into the intimate work of accessibility. I have pitched a very positive review to an online publication.

This is the coolest experimental lit I've ever come across. Notice that's all encompassing; I didn't stick to poetry for the scope. If I'm calling it experimental and shouldn't be, my bad. But it feels experimental, bc I've never seen/read/experienced anything else like it and have never been so pleasantly surprised by a collection of poetry.

Some of the emotions this brought up were visceral and—unfortunately for anyone who knows this—extremely accurate. The emotions conveyed in the in the situations I couldn't identify with—still knocked the wind out of me. I'm certain part of this has been my looking in the wrong places and/or not hard enough, but it seems like 2025 has started to grant visibility to art touching on the disparity in life experiences between the currently able and disabled (fking FINALLY). It's so cool you literally can't forget about it during Hardly Creatures, every time it starts floating to the back of your mind there's a new page with its necessary symbols.

I am DYING to see this in print, because I'm sure a screen can't do the graphics or formatting any justice. Plusss this is def going to be a re-reader for me; I'm sure I missed things the first time around that I'd be able appreciate with another go.

I highly highly suggest this for anyone who enjoyed Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa (translated by Polly Barton) or Walking Practice by Dolki Min. Or vice verse! Enjoy this? Try those, too! But be warned they're a little...weirder lol

{Thank you bunches to Rob Macaisa Colgate, Tin House and NetGalley for the DRC in exchange for my honest review!}

(I won't be posting this part elsewhere, but to NG & Tin House—the timing of this hitting NG and NG's misc changes (not mad!! just giving background for ease of reference lol) is super unfortunate for all involved, especially the author. To give it to ya straight, trying to read this on my kindle was a nightmare, and I tried multiple fonts at multiple sizes. I then tried the new NG reader—also a no-go, as it just tried to load forever. I'm a SAHM of a toddler so I have little to no time on my phone before becoming a jungle gym, so the app isn't an option for the entirety of a book, either. This is starting to sound like a sob story... But I'm channeling my inner highschooler who was told "if you have a question, I'm someone else here does to but just doesn't want to ask it" and letting ya know that Hardly Creatures is so unique and beautiful that I read it on a laptop (v uncomfy IMO). Had this been a title or publisher I wasn't as excited about... I honestly don't think I'd have gone through the trouble. (re-reading this I sound like a brat but it's just the truth, love you guys :') sorry))