A review by whittaker
All the Flowers Kneeling by Paul Tran

emotional medium-paced

4.0

So many of these poems were amazing - notably the one's that explored Trans' relationship with their father: Chrome, Sacred Heart, The First Law of Motion, The Landscape of the Fall of Icarus. I also really enjoyed Incident Report and Progress Report. The rest were okay in comparison to these, but these particular poems were heart wrenching at time, and so full of feeling at all times. My biggest issue with this collection, and the only reason it hasn't gotten 5 stars, if I'm honest, is the annoying issue with the end of the poems. So many of the poems end of on some cliche, cringe overdone word play that detract from the poem itself - e.g. in Scheherazade/Scheherazade: "There is no truth. Only a version. Aversion . A verge. A vengeance." and several other endings to verses in that particular poem that follow this - similar to "But I didn't mean the blade in your head, I meant the blade in your mind.". These just feel lazy and fake-smart to me - reminding me of Gabbie Hanna's poetry which I despise. Other than that though I loved the structural changes in style, the length, the language and the subtly. 

This was kindly given in exchange of a review by NetGalleyUK.

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