Human Cathedrals

by John Sweet

John Sweet's lean and muscular poetry causes a lot of excitement, evident by his long publications list and a series of earnest and diverse chapbooks. Human Cathedrals is his first major collection and Ravenna Press' first book, what he describes as a tasty little full-length collection of angst and bile. It is better than that, with shades of melancholy mixed in with expressed vulnerability and the voice of a skilled poet who pulls no punches and obscures nothing. This book selects a range of John's strongest work and organizes it as an extended meditation-it is a great reading experience, immediately engaging and honest from page to page. Perfect-bound with a matte cover, it contains 80 pages of poetry in the consistent, unflinching Sweet voice.

Paperback

First published October 1, 2007

Reviews

[Ty Dru · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, a poet who is removed from the elitist FAT of poetry and poets. He does not mince words, and he lets his flaws stand out like warning signs. Poetry for misanthropes and loners who see the puppet strings that everyone else is oblivious of.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled in the dark for a long time with poets and modern poetry. It was either too romantic or too word salad, and both were vomit inspiring to me. John Sweet came in and leveled the playing field. Finally, someone who speaks to people like me.

[Michael Caylo-Baradi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Human Cathedrals assumes a certain firmness of tone, one that can be mistaken as mournful deliberation that precedes rebellion, or rebellious action. There are many passages that can illustrate this argument; but one particular passage stands out, because of the intertwined vein of courage and casualness that flows beneath its rhythm: “[o]f all the/words i own/the one i refuse/to say is/god” (58). The strongest phrases in this stanza, at least for me, are ‘i own’ and ‘i refuse’; the phrases are declarations of ownership, and a categorical declaration of something toxic in religion. The subject in question is contained in three-letter word: god. It’s crucial to underline the number of letters in the term ‘god,’ because three in Christianity stands for Holy Trinity, the sacred trio of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, summed into one Godhead.

Full-Text here: http://galatearesurrection12.blogspot...

[Andrew David King · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Sweet is a profoundly honest and simultaneously shocking poet who brings to light the dark truth, what we do not want to recognize about humanity.