REVIEW - HATE, LOVE, HATE by CARSON PYTELL

 

I don't mind telling you I have had this book in my bag for over a month. I could only read and re-read Rytell's poems three at a time. They are raw and unflinching, sometimes difficult and elusive, and felt rather like painful personal testimony. I rationed myself.

They seem to me to be concerned with the navigation of inner and outer space, not in the sci-fi sense you understand, but in the placement of the subject in their environment and the effect that has on their way of thnking. If you've experienced mental health issues, you will find much that resonates here. Ditto if you have a problematic family dynamic or find transition from adolescent to adult tricky. Do any of us find that easy?

I had two faves: Worse that Nothing, in which the poet envisons a dystopian world of dogs and winos and Stars, a transcendent poem that will comfort anyone who loses someone dear to them, as we all must.

More on the poet Carson Pytell.

HATE, LOVE, HATE published by BACK ROOM POETRY