Art is subjective. To the consumer, your interpretation is for you.

I received an advance read copy of
“Coffee Days, Whiskey Nights” by Cyrus Parker from #Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Poetry is open to interpretation. I am not judging their art. I am assessing the flow and feeling of the text put together in this book.

WARNING: This book touches on Body Dysmorphia, Schizophrenia, Alcoholism, and Isolation trauma.

That said, I was not moved until midway through my reading. Something about the first few pages was ...out of place. I kept asking myself, “Have I heard this before somewhere?”

Turns out, a variation was bound to happen. Just as re-telling folklore or a family story, sometimes there’s little nuances mixed in. But I kept reading.

That’s when I started to hear the Poet’s voice of Cyrus Parker.

They were in the text and I could feel it.

My favorites were page 129, 135, 149, and 153. None of these poems have a title which is fun to image what you could call them. I would call page 149, “Bloom” or “grind the beans”.

I love poetry books that you can turn to any page and reference without having to read from any point. The layout design between dark background/white text to white background/black text is easy on the eyes. Might I also suggest listening to any Lo-fi artist while reading.

Cyrus is an up and coming Non-binary Poet. This is their third book of poetry. Previous poetry books by Parker are highly praised “Dropkick Romance” and “Shot Glass Confessional”.

For more LGBTQ+ titles, check out Central Avenue Publishing.

I'll admit it...I was drawn in by the cover of this book. I love the design. I am not a big poetry reader, but I do read a handful of poetry collections each year. This new collection by non-binary poet, Cyrus Parker highlights the yin and yang of life. We see the juxtaposition of day and night; happy and sad; coffee and whiskey. On opposing pages we have 2 poems with similar themes but different moods. The poems are personal and introspective and the poet shares their experiences with things such as gender, substance abuse, eating disorders and toxic people.

The book is a pretty quick, but deep read. I liked the gimmick of the opposing poems. I wanted to connect a bit more emotionally with some of the poems, but perhaps that's on me.

I had read Parker's other work MASQUERADE a year ago and I really liked the earthiness and utter raw poignancy of them.
As such, I was really looking forward to reading COFFEE DAYS WHISKEY NIGHTS from Netgalley. However sadly, I was not as impressed by this collection as I was by the first. I think for the volume it packs, there certainly are some impressive poems in the middle. However, the overall effect lacked the impressiveness that so overcame me when I was reading MASQUERADE.
The topics ranged from forgiving oneself for all the mistakes one makes, self-respect and understanding our own worth; a sense of belonging or lack thereof which really brings to mind imposter syndrome - something we all face today, pointing to the utter dearth of human connection; appreciating our differences and finding enough in ourselves; the resilience of human lives pointing to our innate survival instincts. At the same time the pieces also explore the paradox of human lives - don't we all live the same cliches at the end of the day?

The collection also explores aspects of mental health, eating disorders, body image issues, anxiety, and the desperation that plagues us all, the impermanence of life, etc. In the poet's words,
"... nothing is enough. nothing is ever enough."

It was an interesting read overall... I rate it 3/5 stars.

Click here to read my review for <a href=https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2790573944?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1>MASQUERADE</A> by Cyrus Parker

This is the second collection by Cyrus Parker that I've read, and one of the most relatable published works I've ever encountered.
The way they write about their experience, their thoughts and feelings, it's so unflinchingly honest it's almost difficult to look at. But I do think that's quite the point.
I did actually have to set this down and I wasn't entirely sure I'd be able to get back, just because I wasn't at all expecting or prepared to relate to it as much as I did. Cyrus truly lays bare some very deep, dark corners of themself in these poems, and I found myself wanting to rush over with a blanket to cover them up, partially protective, but mostly selfish, concerned someone might see in me what they've so brazenly bared in themself for all the world to see.
The day/night theme is clever, a very effective way of setting the mood for the words you're about to read.

I highly recommend this collection, but heed the warning about practicing self care while doing so. If you deal with depression, anxiety, grief/loss, I can personally attest that these words will hit home in the most beautiful, painful way. I imagine the same applies if you deal with dysphoria, binge eating, drinking.

Thank you to Central Avenue Publishing and Netgalley for granting my wish for an e-arc to be reviewed, and thank you to Cyrus for putting this wonderful collection out there.

I'm sorry but this book wasn't for me. Please accept my apology. I wanted to give poetry another go but this was just not to my taste.

The hook for this poetry collection is: "A lot can happen between the first sip of coffee and the last taste of whiskey." And damn if that's not true.
There is an enchanting juxtaposition between the early mornings with a strong cup of coffee jolting your senses and then the late evening with a glass of whiskey dulling your surroundings. That is where this poetry collection lives. Cyrus Parker discusses the darkest and most beautiful parts of humanity.
I particularly enjoyed the section on 4 o'clock in the morning, "this desperate longing to hear everything there is to be said before the hour is up because five o'clock is for the living...it's for realizing that in order to live, you must first survive."
Some poetry collections are more for the artist than for the reader, many of them actually. And I think as readers we sometimes forget that writers write for themselves. The write to be seen in the world, they write to cope, and they write to feel. Some collections aren't meant for the satisfaction of others. I felt that in this collection. While I connected to many of the poems throughout, there were others where I felt Cyrus Parker speaking to the reader as if in an empty room. And that's okay too.
I'll leave this review with some words from this collection that meant a lot more to me than I expected them to: "i make my morning coffee the long way; the slow way, to force myself to simply be."

This was a great short read of poetry! I had not been reading a lot of poetry until earlier this year. I stumbled upon books by Cyrus's partner and they are wonderful. I picked out this one to read because of that connection and it did not disappoint! I only planned on reading a few pages a night and ended up reading the whole thing in one night.

**I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Overall I found this book very disappointing. I am a fan of Cyrus's and their wife Amanda Lovalace. I've all of Amanda's work and absolutely loved Cyrus's Drop Kick Romance collection. However, this book felt very short and did not show progress to me. A lot of poems were only one or two sentences and I was not very moved by them. I truly wanted to love this book, or at least like it. I look to poetry for relatability and to *feel* and this unfortunately didn't give me those feelings. I hope it will someone else.

I volunteered to read this book of poetry, through netgalley in exchange, for an honest review. This is a well written poetry book. I can't wait to read more books by this author in the future. It is a quick read. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone.

Wow... I have no words. I just... love it! It means so much to me. I found myself in a few lines, sentences and words. I felt the character and those feelings of... everything - life, death and pleasures. I truly like the form of it. "coffee days whiskey nights" was divided into title parts. Dark, mysterious and painful at night. Hope, future and life in the daytime. I got so emotional sometimes that I needed to put it down and chill. But it was worth to read. Thanks for this chance♥

I recommend it so so much to everyone! If you like poems = this is for you♥

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book of poetry from Cyrus Parker that I have read and found it relatable and from the heart, however I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book of poems I read previous to this one.

This book is a quick read with most of the poems being very short. I loved how the book separated the poems between daytime and night time by using black pages for the night (whiskey nights) and white for the day (coffee days) and found this clever and effective.

This book has a focus on mental health, body consciousness and depression.

I haven't read poetry in years but loved the title.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would, I understand that this won't be for everyone as it does deal with quite traumatic topics.

I found it to be poignant, and enjoyed the contrast between coffee and whiskey.

Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for letting me read the poetry in exchange for an honest review.

Today I am #reading: Coffee Days, Whiskey Nights by Cyrus Parker (@cyrusparker). These particular poems are my current mood. More ‘in my feelings’ poems.

First of all it's really hard to rate this book because this seems to be very close to the author's personal experience & it's difficult to rate and review such books. But if i can take the liberty to be objective for a moment, here's how it goes;

The book has some issue with structure, there are no titles to different poems, now if we assume the book is one poem itself, that single poem deals with many ideas itself.

The language is easy and simple, the content is more prose than poetry. The author touches on a lot of subjects but they never take it to the far end.

I breezed through the book, but i didn't enjoy the content much.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC copy in exchange for an honest review

3.5 Stars!

I really enjoyed Coffee Days Whiskey Nights. First off, the formatting and cover are gorgeous. The cover itself is so classic yet striking, I know I would instantly pick this up off the shelf.

I think Parker did a really great job tapping into how overwhelming and consuming anxiety is. They demonstrate how anxiety is a restless thing that doesn't give you a break, and in a sense takes over your life, affects your habits, sleep, confidence and more - and there's hardly ever a reprieve from it. This is something that struck me hard, as I've tackled with my own cases of severe anxiety, where I felt like no one understands how it feels, how I can deal with it, and how I can move forward. Thus, the messages depicted about anxiety were beautiful and rang true.

This poetry book does deal with a lot of hard hitting topics. Addiction, anxiety, gender dysmorphia, finding one's sense of identity, and leaving a mark upon this world. While these topics are all prevalent and can resonate with almost anyone, I did feel like this book tackled too much at times - to a point where I couldn't connect with the poems as much as I wanted to. There were some poems that I found very cliche, or could have been expanded upon to really make the reader think and feel more.

Overall though, I enjoyed my time reading these poems, and loved the overall aesthetic of it too.

I've read a lot of poetry and this was absolutely one of the most beautiful collections i've ever come across. The emotional depth contained in each word was incredible. There were so many poems were i felt the writer was speaking directly to me. I loved it.

This was an okay read, I much prefer Cyrus Parker’s other book, but this was an emotional and honest book and I enjoyed it.

I didn't expect to be blown away. I didn't expect to love it. I expected to read a bunch of lofty poetry that I'd only understand a smidge of. I got it as much as someone who is not Cyrus Parker can get it. It was beautiful. It was sad. It was happy. I related to some of it. I can never understand some of it but I can still appreciate the words and emotions.

This is my first modern poetry book and it will be on my favorites list.

This was great.

I did not like this. I did not like this one bit. I found the writing style to be too simplistic and surface level. The book read like a series of tweets. And this is all really unfortunate because I went into this book really wanting to love it but I just can't.
Things I appreciate: the layout and formatting. Both made the book easy to read and I flew threw it in about half an hour.
I also really appreciate how throughout reading this book I could feel how therapeutic it was for the author to write. The subject matters would not be easy for the author to write about and I do really appreciate he courage it took to put the words on the page. In that aspect, the book is great and I really do commend the author for writing it.
That said, the style was just so simplistic, there was a lot of telling and not much showing. I think the subject matters are really important, I just wish more had been written into the poems. I wish they were explored more and developed further. This book reads as the rushed first draft of what could be a really impactful collection of poems, if they were developed further.

Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for providing me with an e-arc of "coffee days and whiskey nights" by: Cyrus Parker in exchange for an honest review.

Cyrus Parker’s “Coffee Days, Whiskey Nights” is like the first sip of coffee in the morning, filled with hope & possibilities in the midst of despair; and the sharp bite of a shot of whiskey sliding down your throat & burning warmly in your stomach, washing all the bad feelings & thoughts away along with it. Their words have a bite. a kick. They are REAL. Relatable. The sliver of light in the midst of a storm. This collection is the perfect read for the hellish year that is 2020. It speaks to your anxiety, your all consuming depression, and reminds you that no matter what, there is still hope & everything will be okay.