I am Hades

by Nathan Dennis, Katrina Thornley (Editor), Kas Lufkin (Editor)

I am Hades is a collection of poems that uses extensive allegories and conceits to unpack creation, death, mourning, mental illness, growth, and spirituality. It reflects the desire to look to the past to find answers to the future.Below is an excerpt from "I am Hades", which can be found on page 26:"I am Hades a lot lately.I am Hades when I am tired, andI am Hades when I grasp the handrails as I walkUpstairs, heaving a boulder I gifted to TartarusJust to see if this punishment might have beenEven too much to bear for Hades."For more information, please visit the author's website nathandennis.inkand the publisher's website exeterpublishing.com

43 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 24, 2021

Reviews

[Brandi Spering · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I Am Hades" explores the tribulations of life, the ebbing notion of death, and everything in between. There is an ever-brewing cycle of renewal—or at least the strive for a personal resurgence—as the collection discusses bodies of water in relation to the movement of perception and perhaps choices. These concepts are shown through the narrator’s constant redefining of self in conjuncture with inner turmoil and external circumstances.

Nathan Dennis is telling a story with this collection, resulting in what feels like epic poetry with a modern twist. Each piece propels the overall concept forward, through visuals that ground the text in states of mind, largely within the stages of grief. [...] Dennis paints unusual visuals that satisfyingly roll off the tongue in recitation. “Inebriated, deficient of vitamins and union representation. / Bones leached of calcium, so honeycomb thin an ostrich could fly.” These topics aren’t fleeting—they carry on throughout, in the context of ruining nature as well as being hunted. “She sold her blubber for her ivory.” (“Leviathan America”). The idea of the body becoming currency is a statement—or a question, rather—on what it takes to survive as we should.

Read more of this review here https://brandispering.substack.com/p/...

[Sharyn Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poems in this collection are thoughtfully laid out and the narratives are well developed. The images are at times crystal clear and then others are mystical and nuanced, leaving the reader to feel in the moment and also contemplative. The author writes about pain in an approachable way, particularly in “I’m Not Ready to Start Again,” “Visitors,” and “Drops of Gin.” The raw emotions - love, death, fear, laughter, flow thorough out the collection. I enjoyed each one of these poems.

[Leigh Blanchard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this beautifully written, thoughtful collection of poems! I had the pleasure of seeing “Corporate Goose” performed in person and it’s every bit as powerful on the page as it was on stage. My other favorite poems are “This Boy Is A Cathedral”, “Mediations On The Creation”, and “Thirsty Work”.