It’s hard to review a poetry book because poetry can be so much more subjective than other forms of writing. At least in my opinion. Each poem reads different so that, in a book, some are great and others just don’t quite connect.

Personally, I enjoyed these poems overall. There is a running theme of human connection throughout that left me in my feels.

A couple of my favorites were “All I Have” and “My Hand on Your Back Where the Pain Was.”

The only thing that I really took issue with was Meltz referred to The Wanted song “I’m So Glad You Came,” but the song is called “Glad You Came.” And never in the lyrics does it say “I’m so glad you came” but it does say “I’m glad you came / so glad you came.” I don’t know, that just kind of bothered me.

Conversational, observant, nostalgic, and emotional poems. Descriptions provide great imagery while also packing a punch. Hints of O'Hara and Siken while also having a unique voice within a moving, and at times speculative, body of work. I struggled to enter and engage with some pieces, whereas others were brilliant.

There were a handful of strong poems, but overall the anthology was hard to follow.

Tags: LGBT+ and OwnVoices

Thank you to NetGalley and Mindbuck Media for supplying me an advanced reader copy of It Wasn’t Easy to Reach You.

The pictures Meltz paints with words are so clear, it’s like you can see everything the he describes. Some parts made me smile, and others made me feel a little sad, but in a good way. It’s a nice mix of memories, humour, if you like reading poems that make you feel something, this one’s definitely worth checking out.

I must say that I found once again that free verse poetry is not my cup of tea. This is an interesting work and it is clear that Meltz is a talented writer. However, I did find that some works were better than others. I sometimes struggled to see any sort of deeper meaning or artistic vision rather than a merely a summation of thoughts and activitities.
I would give this work 2.5 stars.

I am really into poetry. I enjoyed this book of different poems. No one poem was similar to the other in my opinion and each poem told a beautiful story of its own.

I didn't enjoy this as much as I wanted to. Meltz writes with honesty and passion, but I couldn't really get into it. There is an influence of Frank O’Hara in his work and everything feels down to earth and accessible, but it needs a jolt, some umami to get the reader more invested.

Poetry is very subjective and personally I didn't find that this anthology of poems resonated with me, perhaps because many references were lost on me and the meanings were sometimes difficult to fully grasp. However this is not to say that these poems aren't well written, witty and nostalgic.

The poems are beautiful but not for me. I didn't feel connected to the meaning but that is more of me being a middel aged woman and maybe not the main audience of this collection. Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The mostly free-verse poetry in this collection is vibrant, with occasionally playful language and some gut-punch emotional lines. Though it's not necessarily the type of poetry I typically gravitate towards, I can't deny that it was evocative and well-done. 3.5 stars rounded up!

An interesting collection of poems. As an English teacher, I try really hard to find meaning in poetry and make sense of what the author's intentions are and yet this collection did seem a bit jumbled and confusing. There were a number of lines that did stand out but overall it just felt okay to me. Poetry though does seem to very much be in truly subjective art form.

Where the beginning felt a little stiff, I ended up liking this short romance story. My favourite part was the flashback that showed how things are always different in hindsight. Although it isn't anything groundbreaking, it's a cute story about second chances and communication.

Thank you NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for giving me access to an e-arc for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

While I couldn’t connect with the material, the writing was certainly poetic. It was complex and intricate, and I think I overestimated how much I actually understand poetry, because to me it felt like a jumble of words. Pretty words, but I just can’t grasp the meaning of any of it.

Meltz’s poem collection consists of 43 poems in total. They all hold a different story which you can understand if you look past the jumble of words, ones irrelevant to the poem.

The writing style isn’t consistent, causing me to struggle getting into each poem, yet I still found each poem holding captivating words.

Personally, I’m unsure if these poems are linked with one another and the first poem’s story about a lost friend, a ballad of trash and mead. Poems like, I will go home with him I love, definitely fuels this.

Yet, a few of these poems themselves are hard hitting and relatable in life.

My favourite poem was The Ashtray, we’re the narrator talks about putting his father into a home, despite it being one of the shortest in the book. Mercator’s Projector was also another strong contender as my favourite.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishing house for allowing me to read this poetry novel. The poems were written very well but some not very relatable. I did enjoy most of them so I wouldn't be opposed to reading from this author again.

This isn't the type of poetry I usually go for but it was a satisfying read. Meltz's creative vision and command over a dense prose boasts a rich and nostalgic collection that any poetry lover can find something to enjoy in. The playfulness is charming and, while some parts can feel inscrutable, the overall theme of human connection is relatable.

My favorite poems are: "Narcoleptic Karaoke", "Mercator's Projection", and "Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role."

3.5 stars

Meltz has written a fascinating collection of poems that are primarily a reflection of life, from the more general, societal-wide issues, to his personal experiences as a queer Jewish man. I loved the variety in these poems and the overall pacing of them. Some rhymed, some felt like a straightforward story, and some felt like a train barreling to the end and you have to hang on whether or not you want to.

Meltz is an older author, and I think that may be the main reason I didn’t feel super connected to this poetry collection. As a Gen Z-er, Meltz was already an adult well before I was born, which makes references to his childhood hard to understand for me. The author has a specific point of view heavily shaped by growing up when he did, so I think this collection would do really well with fellow older queer readers.

Overall I do recommend giving this collection a shot, since it’s short, well paced, and entertaining!

Really transporting poetry that has an incredibly strong and defining POV. Despite this being very much through a gay, Gen X, city dweller, I still was moved. I think it's more biography than universal truths, which was lovely.

Above all else, the yearning voice of this collection of poems really speaks to the reader. Raw, visceral, and touching, Daniel Meltz puts it all out there for the sake of his art. Admittedly, while I am one to enjoy layers of references as well as feeling a sense of accomplishment in decoding while reading, there were points I struggled to understand fully what Meltz might be wanting to say. this could be from my own life experience, or the simple fact that I was not necessarily the intended audience for his poetry. Ultimately, I feel that these poems will resonate more with others than they did with me, but that does not necessarily mean that this is a bad collection of poetry. I'd recommend anyone to establish their own take on these poems.

Reading “It Wasn’t Easy to Reach You” felt like getting to know a new coworker — at the beginning, I was a little unsure, and maybe a little put-off by some of the unflattering details the speaker was revealing about himself. But as it went on, the picture became more clear, or at least got more depth. This is a person with a complicated relationship with relationships. He’s had many friends and many lovers and yet feels the need often to hide from them. I greatly enjoyed getting to know this person and hearing their stories throughout the collection. It’s presented and marketed as a collection about human collection, and initially, I thought it was more about a lack of connection because so many of the poems felt so lonely. That was less true in the second half, as I felt the poet reaching out and being more vulnerable.

This experience came to a head at the penultimate poem, “Broken Monitor,” which is the most bare self-portrait we see in the collection, and which contains some of my favorite language: “I have always had this eagerness to go and come back and go forever and never come back.” What a fantastic way to phrase something I so completely understand! The poem closes on a reference to the speaker’s lover, and then we trot on to the final poem, which is more humorous. I think that progression really encapsulates the collection as a whole: an exposed self-portrait, a comment to the lover, and a joke.

The poems are, by and large, fairly straightforward and narrative. That said, there are occasional bouts of lyricism, and these increase dramatically as we move through the collection. I highlighted lots of lovely lines, and I don’t want to give too many away, so to just pick one: from the title poem, “Forever / and ever like the permanent / bronze of the wind in a / pair of statue pants.”

All in all, this is a collection that ultimately builds strength as it moves. It paints a clear portrait with relatively little effort. I can’t quite give it 5 stars because I feel that the first half of the poems are much weaker. I wish there had been some editing of those poems or at least of the order in which they were presented.