Cataloguing Grief: Nick Flynn, “My Feelings” Book Review by Anna Binkovitz

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Cataloguing Grief: Nick Flynn, My Feelings Review

by Anna Binkovitz

It takes a great deal of confidence to title a poetry manuscript simply My Feelings. It is the kind of confidence that comes with completing one’s fourth collection of poetry, and trust me, this confidence is earned. This book is a shameless claiming of humanity—its death, addiction, and other moments we cannot find words for. To put it simply, this is a book of elegies. Even the poems that do not explicitly contain death are still naming an absence, speaking into the unspeakable.

In his poem, “The When & The How,” Flynn uses the fragmented, multi-voiced style that characterized his collection “some ether,” with greater mastery and more content import. “I asked about your family–you/(like me) had yet to mention any desperate distant/tethered.” The poem, and the visual split between internal and external dialogue, crystallizes the gaps that the rest of the book attempts to speak into. The title poem shows us the enormity of the unsaid. Flynn chooses several images to give us the unnamed feelings: “the shadow inside me,” or “a sign/the judge ordered me to carve hung around/my neck.” The end of the poem physically manifests these shadows, with the speaker attempting to name his feelings, and crossing himself out. Silence can be a relief, in this book, but the respite is short-lived, as we move from loss to loss.
Several of the poems are named for dead public figures, from Kafka to Phillip Seymour Hoffman, with other poems focusing on physical artifacts of loss. In “Polaroid,” we are shown the process of collecting fragments in preparation for loss: “He paints her face from memory./But it doesn’t look anything like me, she argues./Perhaps not, he says– but it will.” At a certain point, it is impossible not to think of even the best moments as merely future tools to pull us through the absence of joy.

As a whole, this collection deals with the naming of loss, how we describe it by what we are left with. Despite all of the physical remnants, at the end of the day, this book, and any kind of death, leaves us with only our feelings. It’s the kind of collection to read on a cold fall day, when your heart has been broken so many times it has passed tragedy and reached pure exhaustion. Because misery isn’t the only thing that loves company; the routine of existing through it does too. So curl up, put on some Blind Pilot, and let Nick Flynn bleed you of your grief by giving it beautiful lines and white pages to run off into.

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Anna Binkovitz is a poet and Button staffer living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She loves pizza, red wine, and honest writing with a lyrical twist.

Mike McGee – “The End”


Performing at Honey in Minneapolis.

“If I should die today, I hope I’ve done all the laughing
I can let out of this body.”

Don’t miss this beautiful, hilarious poem from Mike McGee, performing in Minneapolis. If you’re in the Twin Cities, make sure to check out our next show!
While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including Button t-shirts in both female and unisex cuts, and books and more by many of your favorite Button artists.

Melissa Newman-Evans – “9 Things I Would Like to Tell to Every Teenage Girl” (250K Views!)

“The world is trying to kill you.
It is trying to do this by stealing your voice.”

Congratulations to Melissa Newman-Evans on topping 250,000 views on this excellent poem! Check out more great work from Melissa here and here.
And while you’re here, make sure to check out our books and merch as well, including our awesome t-shirts and poster and new books by Jacqui Germain and Hanif Abdurraqib!

Taylor Seaberg – “The Troubles of Interracial Dating”


Performing at Button Poetry Live.

“You’ll be a party trick for parents, a disappearing act.”

Don’t miss this excellent poem from Taylor Seaberg, performing at Button Poetry Live. If you’re in the Twin Cities, make sure to check out our next show!
While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including Button t-shirts in both female and unisex cuts, and books and more by many of your favorite Button artists.

Best of Button Week 75

“If I were another person, I think I’d still be mentally ill. It’s impossible to imagine a color you haven’t seen.”

Don’t miss this week’s Best of Button playlist, featuring the top-viewed recent videos on the Button YouTube Channel. Today’s additions: Neil Hilborn & Ashe Vernon. Congratulations poets!
While you’re here on our site, make sure to check out our books and merchandise in the Button Store, including books by Aziza Barnes, Danez Smith, Neil Hilborn and our JUST-RELEASED book from Hanif Abdurraqib!

Max Binder & Morgan Crist – “Real Boy/Real Girl” (CUPSI 2016)


Performing at CUPSI 2016.

“To be gendered is to answer every question before it is asked.”

Don’t miss this great poem from Max Binder & Morgan Crist, performing for Barnard during finals at the 2016 College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational. Barnard placed 3rd overall in the tournament.
While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including Button t-shirts in both female and unisex cuts, and books and more by many of your favorite Button artists.

Dave Harris – “Why We Dance”


Performing at CAMP Bar in Saint Paul.

“It has taken me so long to say that I am proud to be black, to say it like it means something.”

Don’t miss this excellent poem from Dave Harris, performing at the former Soap Boxing Poetry Slam, now Button Poetry Live.
While you’re here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including Button t-shirts in both female and unisex cuts, and books and more by many of your favorite Button artists.

Button Round-Up 11

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Another week has passed, which can only mean one thing. It’s time for another Button Round-Up! This week we have some new poems, intriguing essays, and more!

Brooklyn Poets Reading Series for the NYC Poetry Festival
This one is for all our fans back in my hometown of NYC. The festival is open this weekend, and tomorrow starting at 11 AM on Governors Island will be a long feature set by the Brooklyn Poets. Why not enjoy poetry while basking outside in the summer sun?

“Beyond the Benefit” by Guante
Friend of Button and two-time National Poetry Slam champion Guante published an essay on his website this week challenging artists from all walks of life to become more active in building and maintaining various movements for change. Guante write, “I believe that as artists, we have more to offer than our art.” Give this a read, then get out there and make a difference!

“In Service of Staying Alive” by Lynne Procope
Former National Poetry Slam champion Lynne Procope recently published this poem in the Offing Magazine. Beautiful in message, “In Service of Staying Alive” also challenges form and has become one of the more uniquely written poems I’ve seen lately. Be sure to check this out if you’re looking for something a little different!

Three Poems by Nick Flynn
This week the internet was given not one, not two, but three new poems by the ever talented Nick Flynn. Two of the poems are closely tied to the theme of fatherhood, while the third is a critique of the modern day practice of wasting time as we “scroll, scroll, scroll.”

Inside the 2016 Man Booker Longlist by Arnav Adhikari and Tyler Parker
The Man Booker Prize is one of the most prestigious and sought after literary prizes in the world. The 2016 list of possible winners was recently released, and in this article many options are noted and briefly reviewed. Use this to fuel your next reading list! How many of these novels have you read?

“The story’s the thing at the Moth” by Niki Patton
This article is all about a different type of slam, story slams. The Moth, started in 1997, has since spread to many cities across the country and feature slam style bouts with storytelling rather than poetry as the main focus. Check out this article and support The Moth if they exist in your hometown!

And so ends another week’s worth of links and poems and fun times. I don’t know what you’ll take away from this Round-Up, but I sincerely hope it’s something you can use actively and positively moving forward. See you next week, when we’re all older and stronger!

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Spencer Brownstein is a poet, student, and Button staffer living in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He loves beanies, dogs, and a nice cigarette after dinner.