Once again, a poet that I don't know, but I read through this book within a night. There were many poems which rang true and which really came from the heart. I'm interested to see what else this author produces.

Honestly, this felt like another Amanda Lovelace volume of poetry. I think that if Parker wants to establish himself as a new poet, he will have to differentiate his poetry from his wife’s. That being said I think that I have some young male students who would probably really enjoy this.

I was anxiously awaiting this book from Cyrus Parker, and my wait was not in vain! Parker writers eloquently, and really pulls you in to the moment. His poetry evokes incredible emotion-reminding you of the past, of heartache and people you miss before turning around and giving you a reason to hope for the future. I especially liked " From the broken, we'll make art" #107 which really encompasses the idea that from something broken or terrible, something beautiful will come!
Parker is a fresh new voice of male poets, in a world of men obsessed with nothing but the female figure- he really shows you that it's okay to be in touch with your emotions, and I can't wait to see what comes from him next!

The road between us
was fractured beyond repair
but we refused to let it
crumble away into dust,
so we tarred up the cracks
and hoped it would
be enough.


— the wound closed but the bleeding didn’t stop”



OOH LORD THIS WAS GOOOOD.
I went into this with decent expectations. I had heard about Cyrus a little bit on twitter and when I saw he was coming out with a book I got pretty interested. This was really great! I’ve been reading quite a bit of poetry lately and this stood apart from the crowd. It wasn’t too much of anything. It wasn’t over the top, preachy, whiny, lovesick. I really dig his writing. It felt different and not generic. This collection bounces from talking about breakups to falling in love again and the process in between. I really loved how this was formatted! I tend to complain about that sometimes, how it feels like it’s not a cohesive piece of work or that it’s almost confusing, but this definitely was a win for me! I loved how he wrote about heartbreak but not in a bitter way. It felt very raw and genuine and not just flat out anger (which is perfectly fine and is still good in certain books/formats). I can’t wait to read from Cyrus in the future and DEFINITELY am planning on buying this one!

It is definitely my favorite poetry collections from what I've read so far. I loved the fact that there was also a visual difference between the past and present. I adored the writing style. It just made me feel something.
I don't know, it just really clicked with me. I would love to read more from the author in the future!

What a brave, brilliant, and open collection of poems. By open I mean autopsy table exposed, I mean flayed to the bone honest. I’ve been used to reading hyper masculine poets who focuse on beer, whiskey, beautiful girls ( or boys) with the occasional deliberate glimpse of vulnerability before falling back into smug pretentiousness. THIS IS NOT THAT KIND OF MAN!
I salute you Mr Parker.

I would have loved to have seen some more wrestling metaphors intermingled with the heartbreak.
The first half is a beautifully crafted story of a love gone wrong, and a man learning to be gentler to and more forgiving of himself. But, man, do I want to know about the other half of his life, the athlete/ artist/ warrior/ performer getting into the ring for a living.


I deliberately read this book at the same time as I read Parker’s spouses 2nd collection. It was interesting to see if I could find similar rhythms.
The second half of the book focuses on the relationship between the two, and it is so beautifully intimate that it’s almost hard to read without feeling like I’m peeeking into windows. It is also just so full of simple blossoming joy. Thank you and good luck.

To the both of you, I like to imagine that your poetry journals creep down from their seperate shelves in the middle of the night to meet and mingle their pages, smearing each other’s inks, leaving little traces that you both sense in the morning.

I wish I could read this poetry book I've been waiting for, but it's only available to read in PDF format, which my computer nor phone can open. But I've heard amazing things about it from my favorite poets, so I have no doubt Cyrus Parker wrote a stunning poetry book. Thanks for the chance, though. I'll be sure to pick it up at the local book store once it comes out. I can't wait!

This is a poetry debut I was highly anticipating and I wasn't disappointed. A beautiful poetry collection about love lost, and love found. This was a very honest and personal story for the author, and i was able to empathize with everything he went through. He writes from the heart and I'm really looking forward to more of his work.

Even though I knew before hand what the poems in DROPKICKromance would be about I was still somewhat in the dark as any writer could tackle these themes in many different ways.

I think Cyrus did a really great job of portraying his struggles with an abusive relationship, growing the strength to move forward and accept he can have more, and finding home within himself and his new love.

Something I really appreciated was the composition of each page. The poems that focus on the past and the previous relationship are all aligned on the left of the page.

The poems that are about him taking the steps to make a change in his life and focus on growth are aligned in the center of the page to indicate a movement towards where he's at now.

And, of course, the poems that showcase he's accepted this change, that he's grown and learning to stay more positive are aligned on the right of the page.

I've included two of my favourites below to further illustrate this composition choice. I really appreciated this design aspect!
[image 1 and image 2]
Plenty of these poems were powerful and you could feel what Cyrus felt. The one that touched me the most was when asking Amanda's father for his permission to marry her. It was perfect.

Another poem that stuck out to me is the one he wrote about Ohio. It such a powerful one and highlights, to me at least, how one place can have such different connotations for different people.
[image 3]
My heart is in Ohio. (The amount of friends I have in Ohio is growing a lot this past year. I'll be meeting 4? of them in March)

Anyway I was really impressed with this collection and I will happily read more of Cyrus' work in the future. Now off I go to pre-order a copy so it can sit next to The Princess Saves Herself in This One.

DROPKICKromance is a poetry book that read as a story. Cyrus Parke writing is addictive. I read this in just two settings. He style is a joy that pulled me in. I bookmarked many lines because they were just that good. My favorite ones can towards the end of the book. Along with the poems about writing and books, made me feel because I can relate to the passion for words. His poems are truthful, clever wordplay and moving. His poetry is a joy to read.

Excellent poetry collection that is both heartbreaking and hopeful. A peek into life and it’s turns in the Road.

I am gutted in the best possible way. 6 years of college in a writing program couldn't get me to enjoypoetry as much as the duo of Cyrus Parker and Amanda Lovelace.

DROPKICKromance takes you on a journey of self-discovery, diving into a codependent, toxic relationship where you survive to find true love and strength. I feel like I was there, through every tumble and fall, amongst the joy and the sorrow. I'll be on the lookout for more from Parker, who is a talent and a voice to be heard.

Very akin to "The Princess Saves Herself in this One." A little middle of the road, content -wise, but quite enjoyable.

I really enjoyed this collection of poetry. It was powerful, heartfelt, and very relatable. Cyrus Parker brings a lot of freshness to the ways he approaches his poetry, in large part (I suspect) because his background isn't in literature. I found the collection charming, heartwarming, and romantic. The only reason that it isn't getting five stars from me is because I felt like a good portion of the poetry was a bit repetitive or, at times, a bit too simplistic in comparison to his really powerful poems.
I'm definitely going to continue to follow his poetry career.

2017 was the year I discovered poetry, and in 2018 nothing seems to stop me from reading new poetry collections.
I discovered Cyrus' book only recently through his Amanda Lovelace's Twitter, and ever since I only had one thought: read it. So when I found out you could request a copy of it, I jumped on the occasion.

The book starts with a few words written my Amanda, and she said something that followed me throughout my whole reading. She said “he is so talented a weaver of words that when he aches, you will ache, when he falls, you fall”. And that's exactly how I felt. You can feel every raw emotion when you read a poem, and it's not an easy task.

This collection of poems is clearly divided into two parts: the before and the after Amanda. There is no particular need for anything to notice it. From poems about abuse and an unhealthy relationship, you go to poems about meeting Amanda and the beginning of a healthy relationship that allows him to start healing.

This is Cyrus' first book, and I honestly hope he won't stop writing because his words reached me like very few manage to. So until the next one, I will definitely stay on the lookout for any news on an upcoming book.

I wasn't sure what to expect going in to this, but the idea of a professional wrestler writing poetry was too interesting for me to resist. Parker's verses definitely reflect some of the work of his wife, Amanda Lovelace, but manage to remain his own. He's got some great allusions and turns of phrase, and in this case the simplicity of language serves him really, really well. The journey from a bad relationship full of hurt and mistrust to a new, healthy one is a familiar story and probably biased me a bit toward enjoying this collection. Despite that possibility, it's a book I will probably revisit again in the future.

I read this in two sittings and I can't imagine giving it anything other than an absolutely perfect rating.

At this point, I feel like I'm starting to get to a place where I can write up poetry reviews with a certain amount of awareness of what else is out there. Content-wise, I've read this kind of thing before. The difficulty of a past relationship, the finding of oneself in the aftermath, and the realisation of new love.

One note on the content, though: narratively, this book honestly couldn't be put together any better than it currently is. Obviously, this is an autobiography, but just the way he's chosen to piece together these units of his life are a work of, well, poetry.

It wasn't merely content of the collection that struck me, though, it was the writing. And it was the formatting.

Formatting-wise, he was just *so* clever. You get to a point about halfway through the collection where you realise you can tell who he is writing about based on whether it is left aligned, centred, or right aligned. If I've read poetry that was as sharp as this before, I have no noticed it. In poems where he's talking about multiple people, the poem shifts from side to side. It is always readable. It is always deliberate. And I cannot overstate just how much that part of this collection floored me.

Writing-wise, nobody can deny that Cyrus is an incredibly strong writer who gets to the heart of matters. I read so much of this with my hand to my chest. I had to stop in the middle only because I was overwhelmed by such feels. That doesn't happen just from content alone. It's how you write the content, and I can already tell you I am looking forward to whatever he writes in the future.

Seeing that this collection is the first part of a DROPKICK poetry collection has truly been the best part of my day.

There is something incredible and magical about reading someone's love story. The way authors and poets open up their lifes and hearts and turn love, heartache, happiness and suffering into words.

Cyrus wrote a story of two separate loves.

The first one is a toxic love, one of those loves that take and take until there's nothing else to give them. That kind of love is dangerous, for while toxic and hurtful it's still love, and it's so difficult to leave behind. This first part of the book was touching and moving.

The second love is a rebulding one. A love that conquers time and space, a love that isn't perfect, but it's true. This is the kind of love and happiness I find the hardest to find in print. It's a combination of the same 26 letters all other stories are made of, and somehow it's a totally different outcome. I've never felt what true love is like, but reading this made me very excited for when I do.

Overall I think this is one of those collections that will forever have a special place in my heart. I adored it and I hope you do too.

** I got an E-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review**


I loved this one pretty much. Once I opened up the very first page, I thought that it would be my kind of book to read, and yess. it was.

DROPKICKromance is one of those books that makes a deep, deep impact on you and leaves you reeling with its beauty. The writing in this poetry collection is so honest and truthful that it made fall in love with it almost immediately. I think I was about 3 poems in when I decided that I loved it already. I was a little scared to move ahead after that because I didn’t want to not like it. So, I stopped myself from devouring it quickly like I wanted to, instead reading at a more leisurely pace, which I think added to my experience of the book.

Though the first half of the collection is about a relationship that the author was in for almost eight years, but which was all kinds of toxic and he realized that all too late because he thought he was in love and he believed they could make it work. That part was so heartbreaking to read because all this sad stuff kept happening and I just wanted to go inside the book and give the writer a huge, tight hug and just make him feel better.

But, then, the main romance started and I was all smiles and sighs and swoons! It was so beautiful. I absolutely fell in love with the words in this section. The way the relationship is described and the way both of them supported each other through the good and the bad is kind of inspirational. These two people are totally hashtag relationship goals. I adored their relationship so very much!

So, yes, this book is absolutely amazing and I love it and I know you will love it so please go and preorder this and then read it ASAP when it comes out because you absolutely have to do it, okay?