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Python with a Dog Inside It
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 3, 2026
Good god
This five stars is because this is a book I was aspiring to write, having no idea that it has been written already, and now knowing, I have to write something else. In intention, direction, style, restraint, and subject matter— this book took itself somewhere in my future as a poet and gave itself to McDonough. Though I tend to write a little more lyrical than this. And a tad bit more sincere and less restrained, but the point stands.
By good god, he can really stick his landings and I would not be surprised if he says he writes to his endings, though his endings are so surprisingly tender and not at all avoidant that it can’t be true.
There is something missing in this poetry collection that I can not name, something unfinished, but perhaps I sense simply a poet at the beginning of his career and not at its height. But I also think it’s because there’s a sense in this collection that he is not entirely truthful with us, that he is withholding not from intention but from fear or insecurity, and he is hiding it behind craft, but there isn’t talent to cover up this lack of heart. This poem is not MASTERFUL, it is simply smart, but not so clever that it is covering up the bones of craft, and I am (painfully) aware that I am reading a poem, rather than a genuine work of art.
Like I said, five stars for writing a really beautiful collection that I didn’t think existed, that I thought I would’ve bought into existence myself, and now here it is already written, and so well done too!
This five stars is because this is a book I was aspiring to write, having no idea that it has been written already, and now knowing, I have to write something else. In intention, direction, style, restraint, and subject matter— this book took itself somewhere in my future as a poet and gave itself to McDonough. Though I tend to write a little more lyrical than this. And a tad bit more sincere and less restrained, but the point stands.
By good god, he can really stick his landings and I would not be surprised if he says he writes to his endings, though his endings are so surprisingly tender and not at all avoidant that it can’t be true.
There is something missing in this poetry collection that I can not name, something unfinished, but perhaps I sense simply a poet at the beginning of his career and not at its height. But I also think it’s because there’s a sense in this collection that he is not entirely truthful with us, that he is withholding not from intention but from fear or insecurity, and he is hiding it behind craft, but there isn’t talent to cover up this lack of heart. This poem is not MASTERFUL, it is simply smart, but not so clever that it is covering up the bones of craft, and I am (painfully) aware that I am reading a poem, rather than a genuine work of art.
Like I said, five stars for writing a really beautiful collection that I didn’t think existed, that I thought I would’ve bought into existence myself, and now here it is already written, and so well done too!
May 30, 2025
This entire read absolutely floored me. As a fellow poet, I found myself stopping constantly to admire his technical precision, the way he toggles between lyric and narrative modes, his impeccable ear for rhythm, the structural brilliance of those recurring “Incunabula” poems threading through the collection. His clarity is what gets me most: these poems about trauma and queer survival in working-class New Jersey never lose you in abstraction. Every image earns its place, every line break serves the larger architecture.
What strikes me most is how he handles such weighty subject matter without ever tipping into exploitation or melodrama. His diction has this beautiful precision. It is striking without being showy, accessible without sacrificing complexity. The marshland setting becomes both literal landscape and emotional terrain, and McDonough navigates both with stunning dexterity. This collection does what the best poetry does: transforms personal reckoning into universal recognition, building toward hope without ever feeling forced. A poet to watch.
What strikes me most is how he handles such weighty subject matter without ever tipping into exploitation or melodrama. His diction has this beautiful precision. It is striking without being showy, accessible without sacrificing complexity. The marshland setting becomes both literal landscape and emotional terrain, and McDonough navigates both with stunning dexterity. This collection does what the best poetry does: transforms personal reckoning into universal recognition, building toward hope without ever feeling forced. A poet to watch.
May 27, 2026
This book is awesome
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews