Guante’s poetry takes me back to that one time I went to the Nueva Onda cafe with my friends many years ago. One friend was active in the local poetry community, and while I did want to be supportive, I know I did a poor job of it. There was a big slam poetry presence there and it didn’t speak to me. I didn’t get it so I wrote it off. My relationship with poetry has changed over the years and while I still mostly consume it in its written form, I find my self loving spoken word and slam more and more.

When I told my friend that I’d received an ARC of this book from NetGalley, his response was that he was just looking at it on Button Poetry’s website. I was already loving this book, but I found my friend’s response encouraging and continued on.

This collection of poems sets out to redefine your view of what poetry is and assures you that you don’t have to like poetry, and that maybe poetry just isn’t what you’ve been taught. Poetry doesn’t have to pretentious romantic rhymes. Anyone can enjoy it or write it. Or not.

Not a Lot of Reasons to Sing, but Enough tells a story through the memories of a robot recovered from a post-apocalyptic world. The format is unique and beautiful and a delight to read. I found myself rereading several passages and coming back to the illustrations that punctuate the collection over and over again. Guante hits on a lot of topic near and dear to my heart without being super direct and preachy. I’ll be buying a copy for my shelf, and if you are even remotely interested in poetry, you should too.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Read this book. Do it.

You can buy a signed copy of Guante’s latest book NOT A LOT OF REASONS TO SING, BUT ENOUGH directly from the publisher Button Poetry. If you love his style and want to learn from him, check out his Button University Workshop.