"this is for the mostless"

The only time you'll catch me reading a poetry collection over a novel or something like that is if it's for a class. No hate to poetry at all, that's just the kind of reader I am. I just finished reading this collection from Jason Magabo Perez that distinguishes itself as a collection of poetry, fiction, essays, and other speculative forms. I wouldn't consider myself to have been his target audience. In other words, I just didn't find a lot of the content to be content I could emotionally connect to on a level that other readers of different gender orientations and cultural backgrounds could. What I feel the most qualified to comment on, though, are the various forms used throughout. One of the most unique forms used multiple times was transcription -- the poet took audio recordings of their mother, one of the nurses involved in an unjust 1977 court case accusing her of poisoning her patients, and turned her exact words into his poems. I see how this form captures a distinct dialect and the impression of stream of consciousness, but uninterrupted speech also leaves little room for readers to distinguish between one sentence and the next. While this is just one of several forms, the entire collection's poetry circulates around ideas of identity, Filipino heritage, love, childhood, violence, the concept of gangs and community, and several other themes. 

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