masquerade

I really enjoyed this poetry! It is very well written and the imagery was absolutely amazing! Hopefully I will be able to read more of Cyrus' work in the near future!

This collection is so real, so honest. It went above and beyond my expectations, and each poem touched me. Cyrus is an amazing poem, and I will continue to support their work. The writing is beautiful, and I could not get enough. Highly recommend this to all poetry fans.

"you were always meant to be your own universe."

Cyrus Parker explores the struggle of being unapologetically yourself in a world that seeks to mold you into a more acceptable image. Pretending to be someone you are not will never change who you ultimately are. Masquerade shows the journey Cyrus went through to accept himself for who he is. This was my first experience with this author's work and I requested this one because I am a fan of the writer's wife, Amanda Lovelace. I definitely look forward to reading more of Cyrus Parker's poems.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this poetry collection!

Title: Masquerade
Author: Cyrus Parker
Rating: 4 stars
Rep: non-binary author
Trigger/content warnings: right at the start of the book.

Themes: finding yourself and being true to yourself, discovering who you are, abandonment, family, love and relationships, acceptance and identity.
Favourite poems: Misplaced, Normalise, Smokey Eye, Recovery, Nonlinear Equations and October 24, 2017.

Most of the poems centre around the idea of hiding behind a mask and no longer recognising the person you have become and how to fully accept yourself when the world tells you what/who you should be.

Illustrated throughout by the author, these poems were emotional and thought-provoking. I would highly recommend to anyone who enjoys poetry, especially poetry that focuses on the self.

Wow. Like wow. I am utterly speechless at how amazing this book was. I had to hold back from highlighting and bookmarking and screenshotting every single poem. From poems about self love, identity, love and family issues you will definitely find a poem to relate to. They are all magically written. Parker has a way of captivating you into his world with words. Definitely going to pick up a copy when it is released.

This was an unflinchingly honest collection. I was curious to read some of Cyrus Parker’s work, as I am a huge fan of his wife’s poetry. My favorite poems from this book are the ones where he writes about his father. You could feel the hurt seeping through the pages, and my heart ached for him. I’m really loving the recent wave of poetry books being published recently.

From childhood’s hour I have not been
As others were—I have not seen
As others saw—I could not bring
My passions from a common spring—

Edgar A. Poe

This was at the start of this beautiful collection. Gender identity is - deservedly! - a hot issue. Please do not be scared away from Masquerade if it is not your issue. It is not exactly mine either (although it is of friends of mine, and from that angle I always want to know more and learn). Even then I recognized many issues of not belonging, not being myself.

It is time to let the mask fall off. I hope Masquerade helps you with that, as much as it helped me.

Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read this arc early.

Cyrus Parker’s first book is one
Of my all time favorite poetry books. This book didn’t disappoint either. Cyrus is talented. His words touch and effect you.

Get ready to read a new amazing poetry collection by Cyrus Parker about writing; about healing, loving yourself, and becoming self-confident after being abused and hurt; about knowing and accepting yourself. And one of my favourite things is that this second book has been by the author!

A pretty solid collection of poetry. I particularly enjoyed Parker's first collection, so getting my hands on a NetGalley ARC of this one was exciting. I feel like this collection is a little less raw than the first while still managing to be powerful and deeply personal. I will say that I didn't quite connect with some of the major themes as much as I did with the first collection, but even still I found the poetry emotional and compelling.

This is my first time reading the poet and it certainly won’t be my last. Masquerade is one of the best poetry collections I’ve read in ages. Every word blew me away. I came out when I was 22 but struggled with my identity and sexuality and sense of self for years and still do sometimes and many of the poems in this collection spoke to me. I love the front cover and the artwork throughout is excellent. This is a collection I could read again and again and never grow tired of, learning and feeling something new each time. Masquerade is astonishing.

Yet another amazing title from a brilliant poet. A work perfect for people who are looking to get into poetry or those who are tired of the pretense, Parker strips their words down to an emotional level and appeals to poetry readers of all experiences. It is refreshing to be able to pick up a poetry book of this caliber and know one is going on a journey of both the heart and mind. 5/5, I can't wait for the next!

I loved Cyrus Parker's first book of poetry so was very excited to read masquerade, and it didn't disappoint! These poems about self love, love, identity and family issues truly captivate and let the reader experience his world fully. Many of the poems in this collection spoke to me and I loved every word.

This is a raw, heartbreaking and tender poetry collection I wish a lot of people should read. I also liked the illustrations.

I love every inch of this book!

This is an unexpected catch from #netgalley. This set of poetry comes as inspirational pieces that will help someone with self realisation amd self actualisation. It was surprising how beautifully it points out the social loopholes!

An obvious five out of five. Eagerly waiting for more from the author.

This was a really powerful poetry collection for me. Divided into three parts, it deals with gender dysphoria, toxic family, love, and finding yourself. Several of the poems in the first part really hit me, especially “dysphoria i” and “dysphoria ii.” I loved the poems in the second part around Amanda (guessing/assuming) because the love in them was wonderful. I liked the themes of support and being there in those poems. Cyrus has some in the beginning of part ii about sharing their name with father and grandfather, and page that said “your name is not my name” meant a lot to me though not for same feelings around my name. Overall, this was a great poetry collection that really meant a lot to me to read and I hope to see more from Cyrus in the future~

Cyrus Parker has cemented their place as a poet i will always love and who will always be able to move me with such deep, profane words. The section on family love especially resonated with me. I know that when the book is released i will be buying it and pouring over these words again. Everyone should read it.

I don't read a lot of poetry, and this was probably the first time I really fell in love with a book from the genre. Masquerade was everything I don't expect poetry books to be for me.

Reading it, I could feel a frisson of what the poet must've felt while writing them. The pain, the desperation, the hurt...it was all so real. So raw.

I want to applaud the poet for sharing this amazing collection with us. Reading it, I can imagine how personal it must be to them. It takes a lot of courage to share something that personal with the world.

I loved all of the poems, but some of them especially stood out to me. Like, Smokey Eyes...it was so inspiring, so uplifting. And I could practically feel the desperation in Graverobber and I could also relate to it a lot because I'm no stranger to not being able to say what's on the tip of my tongue. i am become, 5:30 a.m. and the final masquerade were all pretty darn amazing too.

Now I'm going to go check if I can afford a paperback copy of this book. I'd recommend you to do the same and order an eBook if you can't afford the paperback because you need to read this one!

Ever since I found out that Cyrus Parker was married to Amanda Lovelace, one of my favorite poets, I've been wanting to read his books. So I jumped on the opportunity to request this when I saw it was on NetGalley.
This is his second poetry collection, the first one being "dropkick romance", which I, unfortunately, have not yet read. Despite that, after reading this one, I felt like I really knew him. The poems were very relatable and honest.
Now I'm dying to read his first collection and more of what he publishes in the future.

If you read one poetry book, I’d recommend this one.

Normally with poetry it’s always a struggle with rating and reviewing because it’s so personal and it can be hard to feel like you’re connecting with what the author is saying. But this one was an instant connection with me. I absolutely love Cyrus’s way of writing. They have this instant way of sucking me in and truly making me feel as if I’m going through it with them. This entire time I was actually nodding my head in agreement and saying “YES YES THIS!!!!” which is a totally new experience for me. I actually got supper emotional at the end because of how much this book really moved me. This touches on identity, self love, family, love, and so much more. It felt really well rounded and I think everyone could find at least one poem in here to relate with. Cyrus is definitely being added to my list of autoread authors, and I can’t wait to see more from them in the future.

Cyrus Parker blows me away yet again with this brand new poetry collection, Masquerade. This collection had a different kind of vulnerability that the other collection, DROPKICKromance did not have. Although I did love his first collection, I can see the growth that Cyrus has made professionally as an author, and as a person. I feel like this collection really illustrated what it is like to feel like when you don’t fit into the box society has put you in, and the overwhelming realization that occurs when you realize this. I really love the growth that is demonstrated through this collection. Thank you Cyrus for another emotional rollercoaster.

What I liked the most about this book is that the poetry is direct, it doesn't waste our time with cyclic metaphors and riddles. It has a message to pass and it wants it to reach the maximum number of people possible.
This honestly became one of my favourite poetry books ever. It'sbeutiful to read, with simple drawings in between poems that allow the reader to rest their eyes and smile without taking away no of the attention from the poems.
Cyrus has the ability to make the reader feel as if every poem was aimed at the reader in particular with its honesty and kindness.
The only thing that I did not like about this book was the cover, which I would rather have been drawn in the same way has the illustrations inside instead of seeming so "plastic".
My absolute favorite part of this book other than the poem "Spit" which was amazing was the poems in which he spoke about his wife which were of such incredible beauty that was able to make me feel the love he has for her.
Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for this ARC.

I really enjoyed this poetry collection! It was such a pleasant surprise!

One of the things I really enjoyed about this collection was the author’s voice. Their voice came across as so soft, almost understated, yet at the same time powerful. Each poem felt like a small, soft punch. I was really into it.

First, I would like to say that the cover for this book is stunning! I love the cover so much.

Second, I thoroughly enjoyed this poetry collection. These are very honest, and sometimes painful, poems. The emotions behind the poems come through clearly. I've learned to love poetry because it often says things I don't have the words for. And while I didn't connect to these poems as much as I have others, these are still wonderful and I know there will be many people to connect with and adore this poetry collection. I love the variety of types of poems in this collection. Some were a sentence and others were entire paragraphs. This is something I enjoy in poetry collections and I think the mix of poems worked very well in Masquerade. Another aspect I enjoyed was the illustrations throughout the book. They fit really well with the poems and I bet they are going to look amazing in person.

Some of my favorites:

* smokey eye
* fixer-upper
* lost and found
* fault lines
* i am become
* better late than never
* mythbuster
* expanse

There is an intensity in each of the poems that I could feel all the confusion, insecurity and sense of unsafety as I read them. Cyrus has a powerful way of dealing with emotions of every kind, not holding back anything and bathing in light each and every inner demon. Loved it.

This is an amazing work of art by Cyrus. The words here will touch many souls. I recommend this work of poetry to everyone with every reading tastes, because we all have the make it through this life together.

I’m beyond words with this beautiful poetry book I know I can count on this author for some amazing words of wisdom I can always count on him as well to send me on a spiral of an existential crisis with his writing that just hits right at home.

It really was important for me to read these poems, I needed to hear these things and I hope lots of other people will want to pick this book and connect with it like I did.

I loved so much of this book! The poetry was lovely and utterly moving. Perfect for those who are finding their own identity in a society that loves to place people into specified pegs that we simply don't fit inside. Part i & part iii were my favorites. Part ii just felt like the theme of the collection was disrupted and I had a harder time connecting emotionally to the poems in this section, which is the only reason I reduced my star rating. However, I will be buying a copy of this for my personal bookshelf because there were so many poems inside that I will revisit regularly.

"do what you must to protect your own peace,
and don't let anyone make you feel guilty for doing so."

Great collection! It was well written.

It deals on many important topics such as childhood, relationships, abandonment, pain, identity and acceptance for who you are.

It was thought provoking and the illustration was captivating. Can't wait to read his next collection!

I received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Masquerade by Cyrus Parker is a collection of powerful poetry. While there were a couple poems that didn't speak to me for one reason or another, there were plenty of poems that did speak to me.
Some were written in a simplistic language, but that didn't take from the impact of the poem. I had many favorites. One of these favorites was this one:

i will not
fit myself into a box
to meet your expectations.

i will not
twist myself into a knot
to earn your appreciation.

Very quiet, yet confident, not to mention honest collection, that comes straight from the heart. The poems have a gentle poignant that I believe a lot of people will get something out of.

Worth a look

masquerade by Cyrus Parker is a strong collection of poetry worth reading. This is my first introduction to Parker's work. What stands out most is the way this poet uses the form to explore experience and identity.