Typical Tragedies: A Book of Poetry

by Patrick Ashe

3/4/25 mkay, let me be clearer. If you consider mega-popular YA authors 5-star material (especially its most notorious transphobe) and can't stand, say, McCarthy or O'Brien, especially Cohen, please FTLOG don't read or rate my books. Thanks and bye.

10/30/23 This isn't going well. While I had positive reviews in years past, I've had overwhelmingly negative ratings this year, which suggests I'm no longer reaching who I want to reach. As I don't know what I'm doing wrong, I think I should at least shut down ads, if not remove the book entirely. I need to focus more on my nonprofit job and special needs child anyway.

Thank you for any and all honest feedback. I would appreciate if negative ratings came with reasons, otherwise it does nothing but discourage instead of helping me improve. If you haven't read and enjoyed any Leonard Cohen, you might want to save us both the grief and pass on this culmination of over 20 years of refining my own work. As he said in The Future, "You don't know me from the wind." Thanks.

From Patrick Ashe, longtime writer and recently published novelist, now comes a collection of poetry spanning 21 years. While often brooding and expressive, Ashe's poetry goes for society's jugular while yearning for its heart, leaving sardonic questions and sincere affections in its wake. Inspirations span poetry giants like W.B. Yeats and Sylvia Plath as well as rock greats like Leonard Cohen and Trent Reznor. "Hear the sound of the Truth / In the stuttering of forced feat / The feckless tries and holy cries / Of failure propped on honored seat."

Genres: Poetry

115 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 13, 2020

About the author

Conveying deeper thoughts and honest feelings via engaging stories and lyricism is more important to me than following genres or trends. My main literary inspirations are Leonard Cohen, Tim O'Brien, and Cormac McCarthy. In the rock world, it's Roger Waters of Pink Floyd and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. I tend toward their themes and styles, albeit as an elder millennial. My books have unifying themes around existentialism, the supernatural, grief, music, economic populism, subverting sociopolitical paradigms, and opposing authoritarianism. I've long worked as a data analyst in nonprofits, and the curious yet unenviable nature of making a difference by evidence cuts across my books.

Reviews

[Watch Jamie Read · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I am not defined by my hooks and chains of mind”

I think this collection of poems is summed up in this poem from the work:

Simple, complex, and
Multitudes of qualities
None are quality

[A.D. Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Angsty yet humorous, covering topics from love to cars with a songlike quality. This collection will be a classic one day.

[Shelley Pier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Literally the best book of poetry I've ever read.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Deep and truthful

This was a great read. So much darkness yet this is the reality a lot of people don't talk about. I truly enjoyed reading this book.

[J.D. Kenyon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desperately human and mortally desperate, Typical Tragedies is a book of poetry that will connect with any reader on multiple levels. The collection experiments with different types of poetry and different ways to scour the depths of feeling and experience of life.

[Aiyana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Literally the worst poetry book I've ever read.

[Patrick Ashe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I developed these over a 21-year period, each line intentional yet earnest. My primarily influence is Leonard Cohen, along with a host of classic poets (e.g., Yeats) and modern lyricists (e.g., Reznor). I've revisited this collection many times, notably when receiving explicit criticisms. And while I'm many floors below my influences in the Tower of Song, I'm still paying the rent on my little room. I still feel as though I've expressed what I've wanted to express, and *how* I've wanted to express it.

It seems that in my crummy attempt to market myself and reach as many readers as I can, I've gone awry in a particular way. To clarify, if you're looking for feel-good, stream-of-consciousness "sophomoric feels-vomit" (as Amazon Vine reviewer J. Rose so aptly dubbed a popular style, naming it to contrast with mine) and consider such YA fluff to be the zenith of poetry . . . thank you for your interest, but this isn't for you.