I picked up this book during the wee hours of the morning. I'd just received a copy in the mail and thought that I'd skim through it briefly. I was having trouble falling asleep. I figured reading a few of the selections might induce drowsiness. I was dead wrong and I should have known better. I have been familiar with Robbin's work for some time but was not prepared for this. I could not put this book down. After experiencing the first few pages, I realized I would have to keep going until the end.
All of his trademarks are present: the dark, often self-deprecating humor, the deeply personal confessions, his gift for story-telling and a unique world view based on a life of beating the odds but the poems are sharper, written in his own style I labeled Southern Gothic. The images are genuinely as fresh as they are disturbing. The book made me chuckle, it also frightened me and one piece, a moving ode to his ailing mother, had me in tears. In other words, powerful stuff. I feel this is Robbin's defining moment. A statement of purpose as well as his true manifesto. He's long been interested in the horror genre and here, he is redefining it in a way I believe only he can.
I strongly recommend this work of art to anyone who appreciates honesty, true grit and the pursuit of beauty in the nightmarish world we have come to live in. It is the most rewarding loss of sleep I have ever known.
Kevin M. Hibshman
Kevin M. Hibshman has had poems published in many journals and magazines world wide.In addition, he has edited his poetry zine, Fearless, since 1990 and is the author of sixteen chapbooks including Love Sex Death Dreams (Green Bean Press, 2000) and Incessant Shining (Alternating Current, 2011).
His current book Cease To Destroy from Whiskey City Press is currently available on Amazon.
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