The collection needs trigger/content warnings for: drug and alcohol use/abuse, sexual assault, homophobia/transphobia, homophobic language, cursing, death, and guns/gun violence.

There were occasional poems that really struck a chord with me, that made me stop and think and feel deeply. But these gems were few and far between. It feels as though the poems didn't have a central idea, binding them together into this collection, but rather the author threw a bunch of 3 a.m. scribbles together in an attempt to appeal to everyone reading.

Many of the "references" feel borderline plagairism- there are six or seven pages of references at the end so as not to break copyright laws. It made some of the work feel unoriginal.

Some of the poems dragged along; long sentences, three page poems with no rhyme or apparent theme, simply angry ranting.

That being said, it was fun to read. It was quick to get through, and very angry.

If anything can be said to connect these poems, it is anger. All of these poems feel angry- at the world, racism, homophobia, transphobia, exes, abusers, and many others. Angry, queer authors is something we need more of.

Goodreads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4654618972

I know the two star rating is a little jarring to see, and by no means I don’t want anyone to think this is a poor poetry collection by any means. The ideas, the prose, the flow is quite interesting. The titles are very wacky and interesting, and I appreciate the feminism and the author tackling hard subjects like their experience of PTSD and sexual and domestic abuse.

However, I think it was probably just to ma, that I didn’t find any of these poems…. clear. I enjoyed a few in the beginning, but further on they became more abstract and bizarre, so many metaphors that I unfortunately couldn’t keep up.

I’d like to believe this author has great ideas, endless titillating thoughts. However, these weren’t working with me at all and I found myself DNF’ing right at the end. I wish these were written in a way I could understand. But, by no means, is it a bad book.

Price's writing is angry and living. My favorite poem was "Mr. Doomsday," and I enjoyed the way all the pieces kind of force the reader into getting used to instability. The book also covers sexual assault and spits back dread. The writing is very direct about the realities of traumatic hypersexualization and CSA. There is a lot of bite to this, and I often felt very engaged in how not-about-the-anonymous-reader this was. Throughout the book, I kept thinking about the relationship between rage and grief.

The most beautiful thing about poetry is how raw and real it can get. C. Russell is a very talented poet. They have a beautiful talent when it comes to writing about pain, but doing so in a beautiful way. This book is definitely a strong read as it talks about some events that may trigger the reader, however you do feel serene after finishing the book because you know this author poured their hearts into every single poem. Really liked it!!

There's something really special about how this collection is laid out. Like, it's gorgeous, I love the writing, but it pulls from so much of popular culture that it feels really uniquely powerful in the moment. The apocalypse. moment, as these are apocalypse poems. I highlighted as much of the notes as I did of the actual poems because I loved seeing where everything came from, these tiny morsels of what matters to the author woven into their original thoughts, like the Chinese term "Human Flesh Search Engine," a random line from "Angels in America," a Reductress headline, a riff on Joan Didion, a Talking Heads reference, an allusion to Lana del Rey and the Spice Girls.

Firstly, amazing title. Secondly, I love how this book is organized. This collection is dark and humorous, strange and haunting. These poems aren't "pretty" as much as they are sharp. Pointed. Violently effective. I especially adored the "Soundtrack" selections and definitions that introduce new sections. I think oh, you though this was a date?! is extremely singular and I find that to be its massive strength, not a weakness. C. Russell Price shows us what poetry can be and what it can do.

There isn't another collection like this.

This was not my favourite poetry book I've read. I thought that some of the poems were quite dense and long. However, I really liked how it was divided into parts, each with a song, a defined term and a ritual. I thought it was very unique. I also appreciate anyone who can put their trauma and personal experience into words and give them to the public to read and digest. I think some of these poems were very intense and personal, and while I didn't love all of them, I thought the writing style was still quite good.

This was a collection I wanted to appreciate. Honestly, I did. I won't deny that some of the poems here are truly wonderful. However, I found the poetry hard to follow at times. Despite rereading several poems, I still felt lost and confused.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

I'll certainly need to get a physical copy of this book, as the formatting on the netgalley version made it difficult to parse the different formatting/section choices, which are essential to this wild and visceral collection of poetry. I adored Price's chosen structure, with the definitions and 'soundtracks' -- a multimodal experience that makes this book a fabulous choice for a college classroom. I'd love to dig into some of these poems with students! Price's examination of class & Appalachia, queerness & trauma, mental illness & messy love is certainly worth sitting with and will resonate with many readers.

I'm trying to decide how to write this review without revealing that I've deeply fallen in love with the author while reading these poems, hah! ANYWAY...!

All books should come with a soundtrack. The inclusion of songs that broke up each section of the book is phenomenal. (It helps that I'm outrageously biased in favor because they had a Mountain Goats song in there but I digress.) Poetry and music, in my opinion, always go hand and hand - so it's nice to see the fusion of the two together. It really elevates the reading experience. (also yes I did make a playlist with all the music, it slaps.)

In this collection you will find beautifully and painfully raw poems about sexual assault (as a minor), sex work, grief, politics, the pandemic, and family roots. It's a messy and incredible look into the parts of recovery that we don't always get to see. The way Price uses their words is both accessible and elegant. Their stanza use and line breaks seem to be train of thought based rather than neatly structured and I find it a wonderfully honest way to write and read. This is the kind of queer poetry that makes queer people feel less alone.

You can bet this is going immediately into my own personal collection as well as my library's collection.

My favorite poems are: "On When They Say Hustling, They Don't Mean Dicking Down a Stranger", "How to Stay Politically Active While Fucking the Existential Dread Away", "Trying To Catch a Deluge in a Paper Cup", and "Fetch the Bolt Cutters."

The reality and the ideas discussed in this collection of poetry is amazing. The author captured not the end of humanity, but the of the slivers of kindness that still exist in modern day society. I absolutely adored some of these poems. They were powerful, to the point and even soul shattering.

I would have to say that I've never read a book of poetry like this before. This book reveals everything in its most raw form, just the way that it is. Further, it looks at complex topics, such as gender and sexuality and mental health and so much more. This is what makes it unique.

A lot of the poems I didn't particularly connect with and a lot of them triggered me, which in this intensity, I wasn't expecting. (Please look at TWs before reading this) I feel really weird rating poetry, because it's so subjective, but honestly, if you're interested in the themes of this book, I'd say go for it. Maybe you'll connect with them in a way like no other.

One last comment: The structuring of the book and the design, the layout, is exquisite in my opinion.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Northwestern University Press for providing me with an ARC for this book and thank you to Price for sharing their thoughts about the world through these truly heartbreaking lines.

this is a highly experimental collection of punk poetry sang to the theme of the apocalypse, discussing desire, exploitation, and family relationships, both present and historical. the poems were jarring and unnerving, which made for a conflicting reading experience due to the heavy themes and apocalyptic undertones, it was a hard and upsetting book to read; i could tell that this was intentional as it was very well executed - it’s very hard to make a poetry collection both incredible and so unsettling without one effecting the other, but Price manages this amazingly. very interested to read more of their work in the future.

Most of the references fell flat, however "oh, you thought this was a date?!" is definitely worth both a read and a re-read.

A powerful collection of one person's survivors poetry. Dealing with drugs, rape, molestation, and, the inescapable trauma. Thank you Netgalley.

I wanted to enjoy this collection. I truly did. And don't get me wrong, there were some truly wonderful poems in here. Unfortunately, it was hard for me to follow at times. I had to reread several poems and I still felt lost, confused and pretty dumb. Thanks for the opportunity to read this collection.

I wish I wrote this collection. These apocalypse poems explored a new world while remembering the shitty current one. It's traumatic and brutal. It's queer, referential, and wonderful. I love the set up: the ritual of the Ritual, the mood setting songs (great ones that I listened to as I read), and the references within the titles. The book is just as taunting as the title. I hope they get their justice.

I think the writing in this collection is beautiful, however I don’t think I had an as enjoyable reading experience as I could have because of the set up of the ebook. I would definitely consider getting a printed version of this collection though.

Although completely different to my life experiences I really felt I connected with the poetry in this book. I enjoyed the dark themes, the hard hitting subject matters and loved the format of the book, each section including an introduction, quote and soundtrack to accompany each part. I simply loved it!

Apocalypse poetry is “in”, and C. Russell Price’s “Oh, You Thought This Was A Date?!”, a hardcore yet quietly excellent collection of self-styled “Apocalypse Poems”, joins a growing End Times library. These verses are most definitely not for the fainthearted with themes of child abuse, suicide, self-harm, rape amongst more progressive ideas of gender and identity, from a gay voice that refuses to be silenced.
Each section has a title, such as “Pretend A Pandemic” and “The Devil Has Been Busy Today”. The apocalypse, real and metaphorical, stalks and occasionally attacks these poems, each one complete with its own soundtrack to listen to whilst reading and a “Ritual” for daily activities, including “get drunk in front of your cat”.
Shoving the reader into a world of sex in vacant parking lots and weed-smoking millennials discussing their favourite doomsday scenarios, this is pretty grim reading from the outset. A nihilistic threads runs throughout the poems, which is visualised perfectly in “Armageddon Origin Story” where molestation in a lake house is juxtaposed with a man mowing his lawn; if you’re not convinced, try “On Reading a Copy of Pushkin I Stole from My Childhood Rapist: A Cento”, a title which, on reading the poem, turns out not to be metaphorical as the poet depicts their abuser in something approaching awe. In a later poem, Price telephones his “molester” and can’t help seeing him in all men with the same name.
There are touches of Beat poetry in many poems, indeed the whole collection evokes it, especially in “Someone Is Missing for You and the Whole World Feels Empty” which begins -

“We’re on LSD going eighty in a downpour”.

Another highlight is the opening verse of “How to Die on a Farm” -

“The vegetarians have slipped/and cannibalism is on its way.”

The rest of the poem is a rhythmic, punchy treat, displaying the usual pitch-dark sexual negativity. Elsewhere, the Apocalypse is renamed Carl, and we get a list of all of Carl’s foibles which are all too recognisable to our 2022 eyes, e.g.

“Carl and cancel culture are in heat”

Overall, this is a modern, powerful collection with many effective moments - and it ends strongly - a kind of “hate-letter” to modern America. There are some poems where the titles are possibly the best thing about them, but they all have a pleasing kinetic rhythm and vivid, often brutal imagery. This isn’t a book to be read in one sitting as the negative imagery can become very overwhelming, but an occasional sampling can offer a jolt of angry, modern darkness that is so very now. I loved it!

I liked this book, though it was dark and heavy and should definitely come with content warnings. However, I think I was discouraged a bit with the formatting. I read this on my kindle and the formatting seemed incompatible. Random numbers throughout the page and pictures at odd intervals. I do not think it is the book itself but rather the format when transitioned to kindle.