#cyrus parker

Release Date: September 7th, 2020

Rating:  ★★★

Coffee Days Whiskey Nights has a very unique concept in that on all the pages on the left side you have the “coffee days” which typically contain the more hopeful, happy poems and the “whiskey nights” which are the more insecure, unhappy poems. I loved this way of publishing the poetry, and I really think having some kind of organizational method in a poetry collection helps readers digest the words.

Unfortunately some of this collection seemed like rambling, unorganized thoughts that weren’t relatable. The poems that were relatable or inspirational seemed to only be so in a vague “anyone could have said it way,” that’s similar to inspirational tweets that go viral, for example. Good words but unspecific, and you aren’t sure where it really came from because they aren’t incredibly profound. This was disappointing for me because I had been really looking forward to this collection. I think Cyrus Parker has a lot of writing potential and a lot of thoughts to put to paper, and one day when all their skills are honed we’ll be blown away.

Thank you to NetGalley, Central Avenue Publishing, and Cyrus Parker for this advanced review copy.

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Saylor Rains

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