Beautiful and heartbreaking and, somehow, hilarious. The suicide poems will crush your heart. The rest will make you believe in poetry as religion. Nice work, Steve Henn. Someone should buy you a latte, give you a kiss, then compliment you for how great you look shirtless. Highly recommended!
wow, turn Indiana inside out and yep, this is it. People can grow up too fast in Northern Indiana and it can wear them out. It can turn their lives around 180 degrees. I’m going to need a handkerchief gun of my own.
I was riveted by a call and response of Steve’s here where he asks: "We say we want deep love, don't we? “ and answers “I've abandoned more lovers than I've loved"
Maybe I was primed by reading colm toibin the past 48 hrs so I could read Steve's poems and just be ready to share the pain, the art, the balance of the sheer human condition spoken through these poems ?
I love Steve. He’s such a layered guy and that is an utmost compliment. To, not simply read, but, EXPERIENCE these poems allows for quite the delve into both the painful and playful side of this incredible fellow human. Everybody’s saying it because it’s true: you’re gonna laugh, you’re gonna cry, and you’re most likely gonna look deeper inside yourself after cracking this one open. It bleeds artistry. If you love poetry that comes to life off the page, read Steve!
I resonate with Steve Henn's Guilty Prayer as he beautifully and painfully paints a work of art in words. In 40 pages, through a Gen X lens, Henn's words made me cry and made me think.
His poems shows courage, grit, resilience, and vulnerability. This collection now lives on my bookshelf along with other beloved and cherished works.
Thank you, Steve, for writing your truth. I highly recommend this read!