don't call us punk because we hate that

by Adam Oyster-Sands

Memory and myth. Cigarettes and summer nights. Worship songs and circle pits. don't call us punk because we hate that traverses the backroads of America's suburbia in the days before smartphones and AirPods at the very time of life when the aimless youth are waking up to their disillusionment at the world their parents were planting for them. These starkly direct poems speak to the human need for authentic community and escape before they drown in middle-class expectations. The characters, places, and times are pulled from a lived experience and expanded into a universal narrative around the search for something sustainable and true.

Adam Oyster-Sands has written a love letter to punk and to those who wove in and out of the various shows, record shops, skate spots, and fast-food joints of his formative years. Whether you've spent a Saturday night in a circle pit and Sunday morning in a church pew or not, don't call us punk because we hate that speaks to anyone who, at the exact right time, found their people in the unexpected places beyond the boundaries of a world passed to them through the stories they inherit.

44 pages, Paperback

Published March 15, 2024

About the author

Adam Oyster-Sands is a high school Language Arts teacher and poet. After years of writing cringey punk songs, he began writing poetry with his students as a practice on craft and voice. Adam’s writing left the confines of the classroom when he had two poems recognized in the Oregon Poetry Association’s 2020 Fall Contest. His first poetry chapbook, “don’t call us punk because we hate that,” was then released in 2024 through Steel Toe Books. Over the years a number of Adam’s poems have been published by various literary journals and collections such as Picture Frame Press, The Dewdrop, and Cathexis Northwest Press. "We’re doing pretty good if we can just get out alive" is his first full-length poetry book. Adam can often be found with his partner Morgan running through forests or walking their dogs around their neighborhood in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Dr. Bower · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the only kind of poetry I can handle. It’s lyrical but understandable. It reads like a story of images with some blanks demanding a response from the reader. I especially liked A Dream About Teeth and The Whole World Hates You (for Jesus)

[Andrea Janov · Rating 4 out of 5]

This chapbook confirmed what I have always believed, that no matter where in the world a punk scene springs up, there will be common and shared experiences and someone who documents it all. The documentation may be differing, memoir, fiction, poetry, videography, photography but the need to capture this experience and the feelings is universal. We all believe that we are so different, unique, important and we are, yet we are all going through those same experiences as we make our way. From basement shows, to late night dinner hangs, to skating and playing in bands, these pockets were sprouting up all around the country somehow with a common frame of reference.

[Scott Cannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adam Oyster-Sands will show you a teenager in the 1990's, baking in the summer sun in Dallas, TX, waking up drunk for praise band recital, dreaming of long lost friendship and the way old feelings stubborny persist. I'll vouch for its authentic telling, and I'll vouch for the beautiful soul who wrote it.
Adam is a time traveling narrator. He struggles on the page with the demons of his suburban upbringing, a poisoned church, and the general difficulty of growing up. Adam seperates who he was then, from the beautiful life he has now with plenty of nods to the wonder of nature, of walking, of finding a soulmate, of putting the past behind you, of striving for a better today.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adam has a beautiful way of combining experience and insight into poetry. I related to the feeling of youthful arrogance and community in the music scene. Can’t wait to see what he puts out next.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I’m definitely a bit biased - Adam used to be my teaching partner and he was full of stories that I knew would have to be written down - this short collection of poetry is the perfect way to help celebrate National Poetry Month.

Don’t Call Us Punk Because We Hate That felt like the 90s and suburbia and the awkwardness and longing of adolescence with the wisdom of age as we look back on it all. It made me laugh out loud but also hit that perfect sad nostalgia that looking back always makes me feel. If any part of you is an elder punk, I think this book will spea