In 'Heritage,' a fierce poem dedicated to an Iranian woman executed for killing the man attempting to rape her, award-winning poet Akbar proclaims, 'in books love can be war-ending/…in life we hold love up to the light/ to marvel at its impotence.' Yet if real-life love is disappointing ('The things I've thought I've loved/ could sink an ocean liner'), Akbar proves what books can do in his exceptional debut, which brings us along on his struggle with addiction, a dangerous comfort and soul-eating monster he addresses boldly ('thinking if I called a wolf a wolf I might dull its fangs'). His work stands out among literature on the subject for a refreshingly unshowy honesty; Akbar runs full tilt emotionally but is never self-indulgent. These poems find the speaker poised between life's clatter and rattle, wanting to retreat ('so much/ of being alive is breaking') yet hungering for more ('I'm told what seems like joy/ is often joy'). Indeed, despite his acknowledged disillusion and his failings ('my whole life I answered every cry for help with a pour'), he has loved, and an electric current runs through the collection that keeps reader and writer going. VERDICT Excellent work from an important new poet.
