DROPKICKromance by Cyrus Parker | Rating: ★★★★★

how can it be
that the moon is surrounded
by all of the stars
in the nighttime sky
and yet
it still looks so isolated
from the rest of the universe
around it?

There's just something about witnessing book bloggers that I've followed (and admired from affair) for years being able to follow their dreams that gives me the warm and fuzzies. I cannot think of a better group of people to see thrive and accomplish the very best. While I don't know Cyrus Parker or Amanda Lovelace on a personal level, there's something so very satisfying about seeing them become such a prominent part of the poetry community. #OTP

DROPKICKromance is, hands down, one of the best releases in poetry this year. And to put it bluntly one of the best modern poetry debuts, well, ever. Parker weaves together a tale of love and loss, of destruction and the rebuilding of one's self. DROPKICKromance is a story of coming of age; of life and its changes, of the toxic and the journey that follows. Cyrus Parker holds back no punches when it comes to his exploration of self, the heartache of the past and the hope of the future. You see the pain of one relationship as it tries to engulf him; the aftermath, the recovery and the path that leads Parker to where--readers sense--he was meant to be all along.

(Not to mention who he was meant to be.)

Which makes the collection all the more satisfying and relatable to readers of all walks of life. Parker doesn't hold back. And this is why it is such a successful release.

There's a lot to DROPKICKromance that will compel readers to keep their eyes to his prose. As I sat here, skimming over the pages I marked within the book, I couldn't quite bring my thoughts to paper. Or, er, blogger. I kept circling in on the fact that Cyrus Parker's writing accomplished so much more than many other men (who are brilliant in their own right, of course) in the writing community had in ages. 

Something that they failed to express. Then, I stumbled upon the review of DROPKICKromance that Alicia Cook (author of Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately; one of my all-time favourite poetry collections ever) and she explained it far better than I ever could:

Parker is not speaking for women, and I don't think he is writing in the hopes of garnering thousands of women fans. He's telling how two women changed HIS life (one for worse, one for better), not the other way around. 

Parker never uses his past, present or future as background noise to a bigger picture. He handles it all with care and honesty. Much like Cook said, he doesn't speak for the women he's known; the story is merely how they came to change him.

This is without a doubt his story. 

There's something in the way he expresses himself that is inclusive and hopeful. In all the bleakness that came through the rough notes of his life, there's just something about the way that he has carried himself through--the way he crafted DROPKICKromance--that is utterly inspirational. 

Cyrus Parker is a voice that commands to be heard.

And you should definitely listen.