we are no longer the smart kids in class

by David Huebert

From the drunk tank to the graduate seminar, We are no longer the smart kids in class asks what it means to think and be, play and learn, ride bikes and make love in a world of depleting resources, technological proliferation, and corroding ecosystems. A fantasia of academic disillusionment and deflating youth, this collection contemplates moustaches, mountains, and oceans from Halifax to Victoria, always wondering how poetry matters to the heaving, melting, masturbating world it dramatizes.

Genres: Poetry

79 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2015

About the author

David Huebert is a Canadian writer of fiction, poetry, and critical prose whose work has won the CBC Short Story Prize, the Sheldon Currie Fiction Prize, and the Walrus Poetry Prize, among other awards. His debut short fiction collection, Peninsula Sinking (Biblioasis 2017) won the Jim Connors Dartmouth Book Award, was runner up for the Danuta Gleed Award, and was shortlisted for the Alistair MacLeod Short Fiction Prize.

Reviews

[Maggie Gordon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was drawn to this book by all the comments about "academic disillusionment", but really what I got was a bunch of comments about genitals. Not to say that sex and sexy things are inappropriate for poetry, but this certainly wasn't my scene when it comes to lyricism and form. There were a few lovely turns of phrases, but mostly I was bored and not particularly moved. However, if you are person who IDs as a fairly dudely dude, maybe this is the poetry book for you?

[Aaron Kreuter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top shelf poetry.

[Lacy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not sure if it's because I'm not really immersed in the poetry scene, but the contents really didn't do much for me. The flow felt awkward and clunky as well and the word choices sounded pretentious for the sake of pretentiousness. Again, I have rarely read poetry for pleasure. Poetry is such a subjective medium. Perhaps this could work for someone else. Someone more into bicycles and ironic mustaches...

[Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

"You tell yourself there are words in your veins. They mean so much more than the ones that make it onto the page. You told yourself, so many times, that words could make it stay."