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Sin and I
From the author of Faster, Annihilators! comes more of the poetry that Literary Titan called “mind-bending,” “captivating,” and “undeniably heartwrenching.” The poems in this collection touch on a range of subjects in a range of styles, but a unifying theme is presented in confronting what oppresses us and moving beyond the sin of complicity in our own oppression and the oppression of others.Employing free verse, kwansabas, pantoum, and haiku, Hupp takes us on another journey that encompasses anger and despair over the personal and the political, but ultimately leads to faith, hope, and abiding love.
166 pages, Paperback
Published April 10, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 19, 2024
ARC kindly provided in exchange for an honest review.
This poetry collection is terrible. It started good then it went downhill and it wasn’t able to redeem itself. The writing feels like someone is ranting to you so much to the point it’s draining.
This poetry collection is terrible. It started good then it went downhill and it wasn’t able to redeem itself. The writing feels like someone is ranting to you so much to the point it’s draining.
June 1, 2024
This collection of poetry is, in the most complimentary way possible, the ramblings of a mad man. It’s a madness well deserved, a madness the author explores on his journey of self discovery, identity, and acceptance (or lack thereof). The majority of poems were written in very fluid free verse, a style I’m not usually a fan of, but one that really lent itself to the chaos behind the words. Some of my favorite poems include Throwing Bones, Hunger Under Cover, Spinning Tires, and Precipice (I never would have guessed a stanza about a chicken nugget would make me tear up, but it did).
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
April 29, 2024
Thank you to net galley for this arc copy of this book. This is my 1st time reading poetry and I sadly didn’t like it. Some of the poems in this book board me and didn’t really inspire and intrigue me enough to want to read them. I think some of the longer poems could have been made into shorter poems. I liked the last poem though where he dedicated to his beloved dog that was such a sweet poem and the drawing of the dog was so cute. I am not a huge fan of the cover as I don’t understand the blood aspect of it sadly. The man on the cover and the green background is a good choice for the book I would suggest. I may pick up more by this author in the future xxx
October 20, 2025
Travis Hupp's Sin and I is the third poetry collection I've read by him, and not only does he have a perfect record with me of all of his books earning five stars from me, but he might be my favorite contemporary poet. Here, as in his other books Faster, Annihilators! and American Entropy, Hupp writes with urgency and purpose. Once again he boldly addresses a wide range of themes and subject matter, some of it heavy and dark. However, Hupp threads resilience, humor and defiance of oppressive forces throughout the book, keeping even the poems in the "Despair" section of the book from being disheartening. In fact, if you've ever gone through periods of despair in your own life, as most have, those poems will make you feel seen and you will relate to them. For example, in the poem "Resilience", Hupp writes "My devoted family has been/certain of my improved fortunes for weeks/ so convinced of my resilience are they/they don't bother checking to see". As someone who has suffered through heartbreaking family estrangement myself, I identify with that verse, yet it gave me a laugh to feel my own experience recognized.
Hupp can be tender, gentle and comforting, as in "If", where he advises the reader "If grief grabs you suddenly/hold it close and mourn with it/if relief is unthinkable/link with me, we'll think more of it". Grief is something he knows something about, which he reveals with great honesty and vulnerability in the poem "Precipice", which is dedicated to the memory of his recently departed 16 year old pomeranian, Oz. The love and loss in the piece are poignant and immersive, as Hupp confesses "I didn't know the chicken nugget split down the middle with your sister/would be your very last half a nugget ever" and describes the shock and emotional wreckage of finding his baby's body, when he writes that "the pumping red muscle fluttered/like some precarious bird in my chest/lame winged, teetering on a precipice". He put so much love and palpable grief into that poem that I cried when I read it the first time and would probably cry again if I read it right now.
In other poems, Hupp can be confrontational and seething, as when he writes about oppressive societal and religious norms. In the book's opener "Self Defense" , the openly gay poet says "Compulsory heterosexuality has me considering homicide/ shutting their mouths is really self defense" and soon after muses darkly "A place can catch fire for all kinds of reasons".
Hupp recently returned to Christianity after decades spent seeing the Christian church chiefly as a purveyor of ignorance and bigotry against the LGBTQ+ community, seeking out fellow progressive believers and celebrating, affirming and glorifying the Lord on his own terms, no longer letting the earthly corruption of those who claim to live by the teachings of Jesus, who preached radical, inclusive love, yet who ostracize others and cherry pick scripture to paint them as unworthy. A few of the poems in "Sin and I" analyze this tension between his faith and sexual orientation, sometimes on a political level, sometimes and spiritual and metaphysical one. In "Density", he writes "They'll try to make you think a density of lies/is a complexity of lies/but no, it's just dense/it's not deep/so it makes no sense to lose anymore sleep". In "Sin and I" (the titular poem),
he says with a mix of lament and nostalgia that "Sin and I had quite a run", a complex verse so loaded with meanings it can be interpreted many ways. Hupp could be fondly recounting certain aspects of how he's lived that some hypocritical voices in some churches might portray as dooming him to live outside of God's love (though no one is supposed to judge but God, and all are sinners). Maybe he's hinting that he lived the way he wanted or felt he had to for a while and he might miss those days even though he's endeavoring now to trade hard living for a more devout life. He might be saying sin flat out wrecked him and now he's picking himself up, healing and learning from it.
The poem is a short one but has so many things about it that are in tension with so many other things about it that it can't help but fascinate.
Another standout poems is "In the Throes", which I believe is about how an ill-fated love affair with a man perhaps unhealthy to be involved with impacts the auditory phenomena Hupp hears regularly that others can't - and the main reason I know to look at it through that lens is from reading the introduction to his first book Faster, Annihilators!, in which Hupp writes about experiencing what are reflexively often shrugged off as hallucinations, but which he believes are, at least partly, actually the result of a psychic awakening of sorts. Hupp writes in this poem about "Faith's carnal crisis/feral phantoms in attack formation beneath" after relating that it was important to let go of someone who leaves him "crumpled" and "deboned", who "won't warm your cockles/ won't win your slobberknockers". These elements taken together seem like a corporeal bad relationship is colliding with or stirring up malevolent voices of otherworldly entities, though others could come away with different interpretations of the piece that could be just as valid.
There are many standout poems in Sin and I, but to close by naming just a few, I'll pick "Throwing Bones" (a sprawling piece in which Hupp takes the reader on a journey through a forest he "had a fight" with, overly enthusiastic neighbors who won't leave, a trap house where youngsters are drugged up and blasting homophobic music at the visitors to a public park nearby, and other scenarios that beguile and entangle him as he tries to finish the poem), "The Trap", another piece about the more menacing voices he contends with that seek to intimidate and gaslight him. "Ways To Bleed", a reckoning and relinquishing of a love both bittersweet and aggressive. "Stupid Falling Star", featuring the memorable verse "The beseeching clang of steel/ on empty plates/in a mess hall where only I starve/while everyone else makes easy meals/of every stupid falling star" and of course "Gimme Both, Gimme More" , which filters disparate elements about Hupp's struggles into rock and roll lyricism, and finally "Nightmares Of You", which grapples with figuring out how to feel about someone when "Sometimes I have dreams of you eclipsing my moonlight/Sometimes I have dreams that you'd help me fight".
There are plenty of other poems worth in depth reviews but for the sake of every review needing to end eventually, I'll leave it here with some final advice: Read Sin and I asap, and read Hupp's other poetry collections as well. Travis Hupp's voice is distinctive, his style is accessible yet simultaneously profound and replete with layers of meaning, and he manages to be both direct and transcendent, often both at once.
Hupp can be tender, gentle and comforting, as in "If", where he advises the reader "If grief grabs you suddenly/hold it close and mourn with it/if relief is unthinkable/link with me, we'll think more of it". Grief is something he knows something about, which he reveals with great honesty and vulnerability in the poem "Precipice", which is dedicated to the memory of his recently departed 16 year old pomeranian, Oz. The love and loss in the piece are poignant and immersive, as Hupp confesses "I didn't know the chicken nugget split down the middle with your sister/would be your very last half a nugget ever" and describes the shock and emotional wreckage of finding his baby's body, when he writes that "the pumping red muscle fluttered/like some precarious bird in my chest/lame winged, teetering on a precipice". He put so much love and palpable grief into that poem that I cried when I read it the first time and would probably cry again if I read it right now.
In other poems, Hupp can be confrontational and seething, as when he writes about oppressive societal and religious norms. In the book's opener "Self Defense" , the openly gay poet says "Compulsory heterosexuality has me considering homicide/ shutting their mouths is really self defense" and soon after muses darkly "A place can catch fire for all kinds of reasons".
Hupp recently returned to Christianity after decades spent seeing the Christian church chiefly as a purveyor of ignorance and bigotry against the LGBTQ+ community, seeking out fellow progressive believers and celebrating, affirming and glorifying the Lord on his own terms, no longer letting the earthly corruption of those who claim to live by the teachings of Jesus, who preached radical, inclusive love, yet who ostracize others and cherry pick scripture to paint them as unworthy. A few of the poems in "Sin and I" analyze this tension between his faith and sexual orientation, sometimes on a political level, sometimes and spiritual and metaphysical one. In "Density", he writes "They'll try to make you think a density of lies/is a complexity of lies/but no, it's just dense/it's not deep/so it makes no sense to lose anymore sleep". In "Sin and I" (the titular poem),
he says with a mix of lament and nostalgia that "Sin and I had quite a run", a complex verse so loaded with meanings it can be interpreted many ways. Hupp could be fondly recounting certain aspects of how he's lived that some hypocritical voices in some churches might portray as dooming him to live outside of God's love (though no one is supposed to judge but God, and all are sinners). Maybe he's hinting that he lived the way he wanted or felt he had to for a while and he might miss those days even though he's endeavoring now to trade hard living for a more devout life. He might be saying sin flat out wrecked him and now he's picking himself up, healing and learning from it.
The poem is a short one but has so many things about it that are in tension with so many other things about it that it can't help but fascinate.
Another standout poems is "In the Throes", which I believe is about how an ill-fated love affair with a man perhaps unhealthy to be involved with impacts the auditory phenomena Hupp hears regularly that others can't - and the main reason I know to look at it through that lens is from reading the introduction to his first book Faster, Annihilators!, in which Hupp writes about experiencing what are reflexively often shrugged off as hallucinations, but which he believes are, at least partly, actually the result of a psychic awakening of sorts. Hupp writes in this poem about "Faith's carnal crisis/feral phantoms in attack formation beneath" after relating that it was important to let go of someone who leaves him "crumpled" and "deboned", who "won't warm your cockles/ won't win your slobberknockers". These elements taken together seem like a corporeal bad relationship is colliding with or stirring up malevolent voices of otherworldly entities, though others could come away with different interpretations of the piece that could be just as valid.
There are many standout poems in Sin and I, but to close by naming just a few, I'll pick "Throwing Bones" (a sprawling piece in which Hupp takes the reader on a journey through a forest he "had a fight" with, overly enthusiastic neighbors who won't leave, a trap house where youngsters are drugged up and blasting homophobic music at the visitors to a public park nearby, and other scenarios that beguile and entangle him as he tries to finish the poem), "The Trap", another piece about the more menacing voices he contends with that seek to intimidate and gaslight him. "Ways To Bleed", a reckoning and relinquishing of a love both bittersweet and aggressive. "Stupid Falling Star", featuring the memorable verse "The beseeching clang of steel/ on empty plates/in a mess hall where only I starve/while everyone else makes easy meals/of every stupid falling star" and of course "Gimme Both, Gimme More" , which filters disparate elements about Hupp's struggles into rock and roll lyricism, and finally "Nightmares Of You", which grapples with figuring out how to feel about someone when "Sometimes I have dreams of you eclipsing my moonlight/Sometimes I have dreams that you'd help me fight".
There are plenty of other poems worth in depth reviews but for the sake of every review needing to end eventually, I'll leave it here with some final advice: Read Sin and I asap, and read Hupp's other poetry collections as well. Travis Hupp's voice is distinctive, his style is accessible yet simultaneously profound and replete with layers of meaning, and he manages to be both direct and transcendent, often both at once.
May 10, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley and Atmosphere Press for the ARC. My opinions are my own.
The book as a meal: After a heart wrenching conversation with a friend about opening up, we shared an ice cream
The book left me: Grateful that my own experience in the same genre as the book was easier and less judgemental from the outside
Why did this call out to me?
The title grabbed my attention right away, then the genres, and then the description. It was like a perfectly blended cocktail with ingredients I craved right there and then
Pick-up-able? Put-down-able?
Pick-up-able, it is perfectly sized for a single session. I, of course, ate it up in one sitting
Issues:
The poems felt almost "slow paced"
Good things:
Lots of emotions emanate from each poem
How did it feel to read?
It felt a lot like watching someone leave the closet from the sideline, and feeling helpless with helping them in the process.
What mood would I read this in?
This is a pride month read, will be re-reading this in June
Where does this fall in my tier list ranking?
B tier, a very good collection of poems. I will be recommending this to my fellows
Favorite poems:
Open Air
Someone you shouldn't
For Fear
Sin and I
Play on
The book as a meal: After a heart wrenching conversation with a friend about opening up, we shared an ice cream
The book left me: Grateful that my own experience in the same genre as the book was easier and less judgemental from the outside
Why did this call out to me?
The title grabbed my attention right away, then the genres, and then the description. It was like a perfectly blended cocktail with ingredients I craved right there and then
Pick-up-able? Put-down-able?
Pick-up-able, it is perfectly sized for a single session. I, of course, ate it up in one sitting
Issues:
The poems felt almost "slow paced"
Good things:
Lots of emotions emanate from each poem
How did it feel to read?
It felt a lot like watching someone leave the closet from the sideline, and feeling helpless with helping them in the process.
What mood would I read this in?
This is a pride month read, will be re-reading this in June
Where does this fall in my tier list ranking?
B tier, a very good collection of poems. I will be recommending this to my fellows
Favorite poems:
Open Air
Someone you shouldn't
For Fear
Sin and I
Play on
December 7, 2024
This is the second time Hupp has managed to grab my heart, twist it, wring it out, and leave me wanting more at the end. After loving Faster, Annihilators I hoped Hupp would captivate me again— and he did. Once again, I felt seen as a queer person in the US. Again, I felt my heart wrenched out as a person being a person. If I tried to highlight every part of this book I loved, I’d run out of space to write my review, so I’ll settle on one:
We keep lying to each other/ and we’ll tear truth asunder/ Only aggression’s honest, I/ should fight you smarter/ I pull my punches when/ we tussle/ and you hit me even harder
Just—yeah. Once again, another book of poems I’ll be thinking about for more and more rereads.
We keep lying to each other/ and we’ll tear truth asunder/ Only aggression’s honest, I/ should fight you smarter/ I pull my punches when/ we tussle/ and you hit me even harder
Just—yeah. Once again, another book of poems I’ll be thinking about for more and more rereads.
July 3, 2024
Sin and I, a poetry collection by Travis Hupp, delves into the themes of identity, faith, and the complexities of the human experience. Hupp's poetry is a raw and poignant exploration of his journey as a queer man navigating the tensions between his sexuality and his faith, confronting and challenging traditional religious doctrines. The book is thoughtfully divided into six sections—Anger, Politics, Metaphysical, Despair, Hope, and Love—each reflecting a different facet of the poet's inner life. With a voice that is both tender and forthright, Hupp shares his struggles to find authenticity and acceptance in a world that often demands conformity. His poems invite readers to embrace empathy and pursue their own truths, regardless of societal expectations.
This collection is a powerful testament to the struggles and triumphs of living one's truth amidst a society that frequently enforces silence. Hupp's poetry resonates deeply, offering solace to anyone who has ever felt alienated or misunderstood. His exploration of queer identity within the framework of Christianity is particularly bold and insightful, exposing contradictions and hypocrisies while fostering a space for meaningful dialogue and reflection. Hupp's language is a compelling blend of raw emotion and lyrical beauty. Each section of the book unfolds like a chapter in a universal narrative of pain, resistance, and eventual healing. Poems such as "Self Defense" and "Non-Entity" capture the profound anguish of feeling different, while "Heart of a City" and "Feeling Better" shine with hopeful aspirations.
Although the writing style is intense and raw, there are many moments where the poems resonate deeply with me. The emotional authenticity and vulnerability in Hupp's work are compelling and make the collection truly impactful. The "Anger" section articulates the agony of rejection and the deep yearning for acceptance. "Politics" critiques societal norms that demand conformity, advocating for a break from conventional thinking. "Metaphysical" delves into profound spiritual questions, seeking meaning beyond the mundane. "Despair" portrays moments of loneliness and darkness, while "Hope" offers glimpses of renewal and resilience. Finally, "Love"—perhaps the most captivating section—celebrates the transformative power of connection, presenting love as both a sanctuary and a catalyst for change.
Sin and I is a compelling collection that captures the essence of living authentically in a world that often resists genuine self-expression. Travis Hupp's poetry is a courageous and resonant journey through pain, defiance, and ultimately, the healing power of love and truth.
This collection is a powerful testament to the struggles and triumphs of living one's truth amidst a society that frequently enforces silence. Hupp's poetry resonates deeply, offering solace to anyone who has ever felt alienated or misunderstood. His exploration of queer identity within the framework of Christianity is particularly bold and insightful, exposing contradictions and hypocrisies while fostering a space for meaningful dialogue and reflection. Hupp's language is a compelling blend of raw emotion and lyrical beauty. Each section of the book unfolds like a chapter in a universal narrative of pain, resistance, and eventual healing. Poems such as "Self Defense" and "Non-Entity" capture the profound anguish of feeling different, while "Heart of a City" and "Feeling Better" shine with hopeful aspirations.
Although the writing style is intense and raw, there are many moments where the poems resonate deeply with me. The emotional authenticity and vulnerability in Hupp's work are compelling and make the collection truly impactful. The "Anger" section articulates the agony of rejection and the deep yearning for acceptance. "Politics" critiques societal norms that demand conformity, advocating for a break from conventional thinking. "Metaphysical" delves into profound spiritual questions, seeking meaning beyond the mundane. "Despair" portrays moments of loneliness and darkness, while "Hope" offers glimpses of renewal and resilience. Finally, "Love"—perhaps the most captivating section—celebrates the transformative power of connection, presenting love as both a sanctuary and a catalyst for change.
Sin and I is a compelling collection that captures the essence of living authentically in a world that often resists genuine self-expression. Travis Hupp's poetry is a courageous and resonant journey through pain, defiance, and ultimately, the healing power of love and truth.
May 2, 2024
Im not much of a poetry reader but I’ve been trying to pick up more and expand my literary horizons lately. Downloaded an arc copy of this off of Netgalley.
I’m sorry to say I didn’t much like this. I don’t think that I was the target audience for this work. Most of the poems fell flat to me and they bled out of my brain very shortly after I read them. Nothing stuck with me and I doubt I’ll be able to remember anything I read in this a day or two from now. It seemed pretty generic to me. I was worried when I read the intro to this and it mentioned religion but I didn’t notice much religious writing in this at all which I find odd. This was just full of a bunch of generic love poetry that I’ve been reading a lot of in my poetry quest lately.
There was some are interspersed in this that I did really enjoy though.
Honestly can’t say if I recommend this. I guess if you’re a poetry fan give it a try. It’s a short read and can be finished in a day if you’re determined about it.
I’m sorry to say I didn’t much like this. I don’t think that I was the target audience for this work. Most of the poems fell flat to me and they bled out of my brain very shortly after I read them. Nothing stuck with me and I doubt I’ll be able to remember anything I read in this a day or two from now. It seemed pretty generic to me. I was worried when I read the intro to this and it mentioned religion but I didn’t notice much religious writing in this at all which I find odd. This was just full of a bunch of generic love poetry that I’ve been reading a lot of in my poetry quest lately.
There was some are interspersed in this that I did really enjoy though.
Honestly can’t say if I recommend this. I guess if you’re a poetry fan give it a try. It’s a short read and can be finished in a day if you’re determined about it.
May 23, 2024
Most of the poems were okay, but there were a few poems in this collection that were ableist, I was trying to just ignore the few poems in the beginning that had ableism in them since they're common colloquial sayings a lot of people don't realize are ableist however, when there was a poem about the author wishing they had Alzheimer's I couldn't overlook the ableism anymore. It was extremely dismissive of the horrors of Alzheimer's and what the people and families go through. The only reason it gets a 2 star rating instead of a 1 star rating is because several of the poems were good, but too many of them were ableist as well as the blatant disregard for a horrible illness and those who have suffered from it or had family suffer from it and I honestly would have DNF'd it if I wasn't reviewing it.
April 27, 2024
This just didn’t really hit for me. I was struggling through the poems and felt that some of them could have been broken into two or three poems instead of one long poem. I don’t know if I will continue checking out any new works from this author. I just ended up zoning out for most of poems while reading.
June 18, 2024
Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC of this book.
This collection of poetry was not for me, but it was well written.
This collection of poetry was not for me, but it was well written.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews