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Prolific author and poet Holstad has, in this most recent poetry collection, continued to maintain his somewhat cult-favorite status as the dark troubadour of the rebellious underbelly of contemporary American poetry. The ninety poems included continue and expand upon the writer's insistence that "poetry can exist to disturb, to punish, to torment, [to] show what's real, man." As expressed in the poem "I Can't Help It," he desires for "people to wail, gnash their teeth, pound each other with real words" as they sink their teeth into these 132 pages of unrestrained, "guns death drugs and despair" verse, laying bare the real world known by this poet.
Vignettes detail stories of pimps and prostitutes, gangsters and junkies, dreamscapes of dystopia and kerfuffles with the law. And yet, beneath the grit and grime, lies a characteristically definitive gift of mind from this arguably underground poetic voice, allowing Holstad to tell things straight as they are, absent any gimmick of false niceties. As such, these poems leave an indelible mark on the reader's psyche, much like revealed bruises—a testament to an often-ugly world on the streets and the margins of society.
Much of this poetry can be instantly and favorably compared to the poems of Bukowski or some of the messier-around-the-edges work of particular beat poet extraordinaires, such as Kerouac and Burroughs. Holstad, in many ways, carries the torch of such heavyweight literary forbearers into present-day American poetics. For readers who enjoy such "edges-of-life," funky, non-mainstream material, the poems in this collection offer many deliciously nightmarish treats from a celebrated contemporary trickster-poet.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review