October

by Jeremy Bolm

I wrote a poem every day of October.
It's the month I feel most fickle about.
I love horror movies and the colder weather.
It's also the month I lost a parent.

This was my way of working it out.

Genres: Poetry

48 pages, Paperback

Published November 30, 2018

About the author

Jeremy Bolm is an American vocalist, record label owner, music producer and writer. In his music career, he is most known for being the full-time vocalist of the post-hardcore band Touché Amoré. He has also performed with the part-time bands Thriller, Deadhead and Hesitation Wounds. Outside of performing, Bolm runs the indie record label Secret Voice and self-publishes his own poetry zines.

Reviews

[Liam Strong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of my love for this little collection is due to my love of Touche Amore since high school. I've read October once before when Bolm first released it, and I don't think I was ready for it then. The book feels much more fitting now after Touche's newest record, Lament, has just recently been released, so the effect of Bolm's struggle with evading mournfulness is even more evocative now. Lament was the record the band had to do after Stage Four. This book, too, is one of the bridges that brought them to this point.

I often don't think of October as a book of poetry but rather as a diary. I may also consider this because Bolm's knack as a lyricist shines through many of these poems, which isn't a fault of his poetic sensibility but rather that his lyric voice from writing for Touche Amore for years now has helped him develop a very unique writing style. If we think about October solely as a collection of poems, then we'd lose a lot of their emotional appeal, which isn't fair, because although there would certainly be weaker poems that stand out, the intention of the book isn't for any single poem to stand out, but rather function as a whole. There's a progression to the book, one that invites you into Bolm's headspace where his writing in Touche Amore sometimes doesn't.

There's a lot to like in this collection, but it almost feels necessary to be a fan of Touche Amore (and primarily Stage Four LP) prior to reading to fully understand Bolm's world and headspace. As a huge fan personally, I feel a lot of feelings from reading October (in the same month, too!). Some of the pieces in the collection might function better as songs, but I still like reading them on the page. Though it's hard not to want more, I also think the book benefits most from acting as a kind of diary/journal. In this way it prevents me from expecting too much in terms of poetic craft and allows me to look at Bolm's words for what they are. Honesty in its purest form.

[Michael Lombardi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeremy Bolm does no wrong