Adam Falkner offers us a book that is beautiful, jarring, and speaks to valuable human experience. What more can you ask of a poet? There is much to consider and appreciate in this volume.

The Willies is a collection of poetry by Adam Falkner, you may recognise his name and poetry from the Button Poetry YouTube channel. The text is split into three distinct sections, each dealing with an array of themes.

The first section covers suicide, constrained relationships with his father, the pain of hiding your sexuality, and white privilege. For me, the most interesting moment was the dissection of white privilege and the understanding that, as a white person, he can consume culture and has the power to either engage or retreat from it. He is not defined by what he engages with, whilst those within a particular culture are defined by it rather than who they are.

Moving on, section two looks more broadly at loss, and builds upon the exploration of white privilege. In ‘If You Don’t Know’ there is a compelling moment which conveys what cultural appropriation is.

"you
know very well who you are: tourist
walking circles in a city they did not
build."
- 'If You Don't Know', p. 45

As we delve further into both this poem and the section, we see Falkner explore white guilt. He posits that if you situate yourself within black culture you can convince yourself that you are absolved from white guilt, but the reality is that it is a privilege that you can just step into a culture that is not your own.

Section three again broaches the topic of loss, but also enters into acceptance. It is the reclamation of the life lost by queer people as we exist within a society designed to abhor us. To me, this section was the most empowering and emotional, but I would consider the prior section my favourite.

Whilst I did enjoy the majority of the poems, the references to Chris Brown and Drake were disappointing. I can’t understand why you would opt to include men who have actively abused women and engaged with minors in unacceptable ways.

Modern, cryptic poetry.

I'm not sure i thoroughly understand every verse or is it just me?
I like the verses describing a gay man's life.

Button poetry is always good.

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free poetry collection*

In this collection, Falkner discusses themes such as coming out as gay, sexual awakening, suicide, family relations, white-guilt, and gender. I didn't like all of the poems, but some of them were well written, humbling, and intimate. Others were funny. For example "The Whitest Thing": Owning your own white guilt isn't cool / yet, so you stuff the soft parts of other kids' / cultures into your poeckets until you believe it is / not there. You are a matching sweat / suit jukebox stocked with everything / from Ice Cube to OutKast, entire albums / memorized and coiled in the dampf / of your mouth, gunfire into the fiar/ above the school parking lot --- and that / is as black as you think possible." (28)

The poems are very honest, some sad, not all offer consolation even though some do.

3,5 stars

The Willies by Adam Falkner contains a number of poems which cover a variety of topics including alcoholism, growing up, coming out, race, love, and vulnerability. The poems were raw and full of feeling while also being easy to understand and relate to. I really enjoyed reading through these poems and could see myself returning to re-read some in the future. This was a quick but impactful read and I look forward to reading more by Adam Falkner.

The Willies, a collection of poems by Adam Falkner, is short but powerful reading experience. I am not a regular reader of poetry so I did not know what to expect with this collection. I lost myself in the language and imagery of the poems. They speak deeply to the experience of identity – finding it, hiding it, trying to change it, and accepting it. Thank you to Adam Falkner, NetGalley, and Button Poetry for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I am unable to read/review this collection, unfortunately, due to not being able to download it. Shame! I have read positive things about this poetry and would really like to have read it for myself.

The star rating is obviously not accurate.

"Nothing stays weightless forever"

These poems were raw, filled with emotion, and honesty. A quick read but a glance through the eyes of the poet. Struggles with family, love and life.

Some of the poems definitely stood out more than others, overall a solid collection.

I really enjoyed reading The Willies! I found it only chance while cruising through Netgalley's Read Now. Adam Falkner's poetry was raw and very relatable. He covered issues of alcoholism, coming out to family, political views, and founding one's self. This was such a refreshing read for me! I will most definitely buy a physical copy of this poetry book when it comes out.

This one got to me, man. This is the power of poetry. Falkner expresses youthful queerness better than anyone I've ever read. The lengths we go to in order to appear straight - not even straight, necessarily, but anything other than that which we are - and the reclamation of what we've missed out on when finally we're able to be honest with ourselves about it. I was expecting this poetry collection to be heartbreaking, but I wasn't expecting it to also be hilarious; I can't quote from it, but there are two poems in particular which had me laughing out loud. There were poems about white guilt which initially made me a little uncomfortable, but with each poem on that theme it became clearer what Falkner is saying, and I think it's a worthwhile point; that cultural appropriation can become a kind of contest to absolve white guilt. This is an ambitious and honest collection, and I was expecting to like it, but not to love it. And I do love it.

I want to own this collection, and will absolutely be preordering it so that it can sit on my shelf. I want to carry it around with me and dog-ear all the pages and highlight my favourite lines.

The Willies, a collection of poems by Adam Falkner, is an introspective and conversational approach to queerhood in America in which the poet lays himself bare with honesty and candor. The musings are wide ranging yet accessible, presented at times with humour, and often surprising, yet always raw and thought-provoking. Recommended.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Button Poetry for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This collection of contemporary and relevant poems explores sexuality, family relationships, race and alcoholism. It’s honest and worth the short times it takes to read.