If You Can Hear This: Poems in Protest of an American Inauguration by Bryan Borland

If You Can Hear This: Poems in Protest of an American Inauguration Reviews

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  BookChampions

  I've struggled for the past two and a half years to process my feelings of living in this country under such an excessively patriarchal presidency. In many ways I've gone inward and shut down when I should have uncovered more ways to connect and fight back. So I'm grateful to read, now, this collection of urgent poems of dissent and disruption.
  
  I'm impressed with the timeliness of the collection--how quick Sibling Rivalry Press was to respond to the election of Donald Trump (days I can still remember vividly) and how relevant, sadly, these poems still are today. As with any poetry collection, there are some poems that speak more loudly to me than others, but at least with this book, it's not worth it to list the ones that stood out. This book's power lies in the collective raising of every one of these beautiful/angry/hopeful/fed up voices from so many LGBTQ+ and POC artists. The poet bios are incredible, and I never so actively flipped back in forth between the bios and the poems. I was left awed by the wide reach of this book and the diversity and creativity of these poets. This book is proof that there is so much resistance out in our country right now, and comforting and rallying, it cries out to its reader, urging us to stand up and stay in the fight.
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  Melissa Helton

  Great collection. At this point, we can start to assess which of their fears have come to pass and which haven't. Powerful time capsule of what it was like during that terrible time.
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  Mel King

  I'm incredibly grateful for the poets in this collection and for Sibling Rivalry Press putting this together so quickly. There are some beautiful, crushing poems in here that made me feel less alone. This is a collection that should be required reading right now.