I would like to thank the publisher of Not a lot of reasons to sing, but enough, for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy through NetGalley.
I found the blending of visual art with poetry imaginative.
I would definitely recommend this book to readers who enjoy science fiction, and poetry with political and philosophical nuances.

Passionate, political, powerful writing, beautifully illustrated. If that first part makes it sound inaccessible, it really isn't - The book is presented as "found materials" - poems, transcripts, sketches and journal entries about Gyre and Nary "collected" during their travels. Structured and introduced like this, it becomes a little like reading fiction. Part mystery, part sci-fi comic, part poetry anthology. A really unique and interesting book.

Thank you to Button Poetry and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Now available.

Kyle Myhre's Not A Lot Of Reasons To Sing But Enough is a divine collection! Set in the distant future civilization, the book seeks to uncover what the truth of poetry is. Through elegies, sololiques, conversations, didactic sessions and more we uncover this world as filtered through Gyre, a robot, and Nary, his human companion. It is playful and challenges the boundaries of traditional poetry. I greatly enjoyed each and every poem, especially the Blessings. Highly recommend!

I was offered this book as an ARC by NetGalley. I am quick to admit that I do not read much poetry but do want to broaden my horizons. The fact that this book has a sci-fi flavour, was a big draw and thought that it might be a good way for me to ease myself in. I really liked that the book is a mix of different writing styles and has the added bonus of some great artwork. I am about to start my next writing course and so am fired up to be far more experimental in this module so thank you to Kyle "Guante" Tran Myhre!

Can I just say, wow, this book was a breath of fresh air. This book is imaginative and inspiring, structured brilliantly.

As a fan of dystopian worlds and scifi, I loved the unique setting, a future society of Earth's outcasts surviving on the moon. But the morals and lessons are very much of the world we know now. He artfully crafts tales of counter-narratives that left me in deep thought about our world, how we got here, where we're heading, and how we can help or hinder the process.

Also, though the book isn't actually about writing poems, being an amateur writer, I loved the lessons he wove into his story on writing and what we as artists and educators can do to help promote and encourage community and voice. I can't wait to share some of these poems and stories in my classroom!

Some quotes that I loved:
🌙 How do you not notice that dread, hanging in the air like a cloud of mosquitoes?
🌙 We have to tell our stories. We have to listen to one another's stories.
🌙 ...no matter how beautiful, or colorful, or well-constructed the balloon itself is, none of that makes it fly.
🌙 May you do the right thing even when it is not the easy thing. Or the expected thing. Or the lawful thing.
🌙 ...magic is not whether I pick up that brush with my mind, or with my hand; the magic is what I write with it.

I am looking to get into poetry, and while browsing for some I saw this one was also sci-fi so it really stood out.

As soon as I started reading I saw it was not what I imagined poetry to be, no obscure short rhyming poems, but a collection of hard hitting essays (a few of which did rhyme) with a matching sci-fi setting.

We follow two poets, a robot and a human as they travel between villages on the moon, where exiled humans created a new society after their memories were erased.

But they are no regular poets. They believe their art can be used to create movements, rebellions and influence politics. This book is a commentary on the pandemic, social justice, gender inequality and human nature. Felt even like a call to action. I very much enjoyed the educational passages about how to write a poem.

The author is a Hip Hop performer and it was very interesting to see how he incorporated the scene into his work. Also the illustrations were excellent. Highly recommended if you care about social issues and are interested in influential art.

As someone who loves both dystopia and poetry, I was absolutely delighted to stumble across a book that combines the two. Of course, tie in memory deletion and you basically have the recipe for my perfect book. Unfortunately though...all the proper ingredients doesn't ensure the perfect execution.

The foundation of the story is that a bunch of robots and humans have been exiled to the moon, and while they still have all their vocabulary from before, they can't remember anything else. We then explore some past and present of life on this planet with some poets who travel and help encourage others with writing. More or less.

Sometimes the abstract was just too much...I suppose that can be very common in poetry though. Honestly the worst part was just everyone's opinions and views were just so completely, blindly one-sided that it made everyone one dimensional. There was Hen March who was one of the earliest exiles who was just the perfect poster child for earthly progression. Her memories from before are wiped but she just inherently knows that gender is a construct and cops are bad and shouldn't exist and so on. I would've preferred so much depth there. Instead of someone coming seemingly just programmed with these ideals and never questioning or thinking about any of it.

On the flip side, the obvious "bad guys", with bad ideals anyway were just these caricatures of the opposite of that. Like the entire poem of what a "real man" is...never looks at birds, exchanges shark tooth necklaces, drinks his own tears to achieve victory over them. Then somewhat admits that the rules are intense but goes into explaining how we need to follow such rules blindly because that's the only way we can keep from dissolving into chaos.

I can absolutely see WHY the author did all this and the points and beliefs definitely came across. It just made it all so one dimensional though to have everything so black and white. Where's the friction and inner turmoil and depth?! Then not to mention all the little author chats, where there were usually 3 and it was just the perfect little Goldilocks situation. We have too much, then too little and then in comes Nary jjjuuuusssttt right. But ignored.

That said...I highlighted a ton of lines in this book. It was thought provoking. I was absolutely aching to write afterwards and enjoyed how there were even writing prompts in the end. I'm kind of not sure how to even rate this. Do I weigh the overall story and characters highest? Does well written lines and post-reading inspiration weigh more? I honestly feel like I both loved and hated this book. I was left with many questions, both about the story and more philosophical ones. Which I suppose was a big point of it.

In "Not A Lot of Reasons to Sing but Enough", Myhre creates a post-apocalyptic world in which the reader is forced to acknowledge the injustice, the hypocrisy, the creeping authoritarianism and the helplessness that many currently feel. The dialogue, poetry, and storytelling is wonderfully executed.

"Not A Lot of Reasons to Sing but Enough" has an interesting format, not only because of the storytelling and setting, but because of the characters. There are no major arcs and no clear resolutions which I find extremely effective and important. Myhre is clear there is no easy solution to the problems in our society but there is an importance of relationships, community and using art to speak the truth. This book, among other things, is perfect for poetry lovers, a call for self-reflection and a tool for activists.

I recommend the audiobook version as well. The delivery is (if you are familiar with his previous work) unsurprisingly effective.

This was moving and the story told through the poetry is what made it so powerful. It moves your souls and heart and it makes you take a step back and think.

I felt like this was misleading by putting it in the poetry section. I didn't feel like poetry at all which was very disappointing.

Featuring new poems, theater elements, and Casper Pham‘s stunning visual art, the book follows two wandering poets as they make their way from village to village, across a prison colony moon full of exiled rebels, robots, and storytellers.

I really enjoyed this collection of work! The way the story unfolds through each individual piece makes it a really engaging and interesting experience. The Themes and language are thought-provoking, emotional and really reflective of a world gone wrong.

y’all, this book is a LITTLE intimidating, as it has its own complex and intricate narratives that weave in and out of focus throughout, but seriously, the words are SO powerful. the author has an excellent grasp on their voice + perspective, and though the text invokes images of mushroom fields, robots, and classroom career days in varying degrees, the poetry is still incredibly heartfelt, emotive, and viscerally REAL.
(review also posted on: instagram.com/spoonie.bujo , March 18 2022)

I’ve only recently started reading poetry and was pulled in by this book’s cover art and its premise:

In poetry, dialogue and visual art the book follows two wandering poets as they make their way from village to village, across a prison colony moon full of exiled rebels, robots, and storytellers.

For me it started well and the thought of a place where people were exiled many moons ago and only know snippets of the “World” they came from (using phrases like “you can lead a horse to water” and not knowing what a horse is) was genius.

Unfortunately I struggled from about a third of the way through as the book became increasingly more a novella instead of poetry and I didn’t know what I was reading ultimately. There are some lovely thought provoking sections about plagues and war that align with our current world situation.

Thanks NetGalley for the chance to read this. Not for me but that’s not to say others won’t love it.

I’ll have to come back here and edit my review when I’ve been able to write a longer or better one, but to sum up; this book is odd and extraordinary.

At the start, I wasn't sure I would like this, and I couldn't understand the setting; we're listening to a robot whose memories were recovered from a post-apocalyptic world, and as we do so we follow 2 poets traveling across the said world, as poet-bards. I'm not clear on that bit, and I will need to read the start again.

Either way, Myhre uses that setting to explore racism, homophobia, poetry, sexism, and violence without naming names. This setting gives him a lot of freedom to explore things, for example, 'Revenge is the best Success' is a great poem, but works even better in this setting rather than a more standard book of poems. The poems on Hen March are great, but an entire book on Hen March may not have worked the way these poems in this setting did and how they made us switch between the past and the present.

I also loved how the poets cross paths with so many unreasonable people and are brushed aside every time they speak the truth; it's indicative of not only the role art has in our lives, but also of how truth still exists, someone does still speak it, even when it looks like the majority doesn't agree with it.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this book!

I requested this book because I was in need of some poetry and I trust Button Poetry to give me exactly what I need every time.

This ended up not being anything like I would have expected and everything I needed at the same time. I finished this book and my only thought was that tragically, I read it at the perfect time with everything going on in the world.

"Not A Lot of Reasons to Sing but Enough" is told thorough poems and illustrations, following several points of view and covering all kinds of situations from racism, discrimination, environmental problems, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, censorship, dictatorship, poverty, pretty much everything on the news right now, but in a futuristic community in the moon, where the descendest of extradited criminals live.

The unique way in which this story is told may take a while to be understood but once you get in the rhythm of it, it will be rooted in your mind forever.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Button Poetry for this DRC. It made me feel a little bit less alone.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adored the art and the premise of this poetry collection. The imagery and the flow were captivating and I can't wait to get my hands on a physical copy of this book. As a fan of sci-fi novels and a poet myself, this collection gave me everything I wanted and more.

This book is beautiful, meditative, and profound. It’s interesting and innovative and especially relevant to the world today, as Myhre confronts heavy topics in a quiet and intimate way. Some sections feel too long or unnecessary, but the author’s message always shines through. Other sections of this book feel like a love letter to art, stories, and writers which makes it a joy to read. It also feels like a call to arms and shows the reader how art is resistance and resistance is power, no matter how small. Overall, I am impressed with the level of worldbuilding and amount of heart in this unique blend of sci-fi and poetry, which is complemented well by Pham’s illustrations. A great read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Button Poetry for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

NOT A LOT OF REASONS TO SING, BUT ENOUGH by Kyle “Guante” Tran Myhre is a sci-fi themed poetry collection that is like nothing I have ever read before. I've heard of science fiction novels before, but I've never read science fiction poetry before. According to the description, "the book follows two wandering poets as they make their way from village to village, across a prison colony moon full of exiled rebels, robots, and storytellers."

Overall, NOT A LOT OF REASONS TO SING, BUT ENOUGH is a sci-fi themed collection of poetry with plenty of original ideas. One highlight of this book was the psychedelic artwork. It reminded me of Arthur Rackham and classic fairy tale illustrations meets the colors of Gerard Way's Umbrella Academy. I took off 2 stars, because I had trouble understanding or enjoying the poems. This is simply because I don't usually read poetry. I'm sure many fans of poetry will enjoy this collection though. If you're intrigued by the description, you can check out this book when it comes out in March!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book. I don’t know if I’d have heard of it otherwise, and I would have missed out on a unique and unexpected read.
I don’t usually read a lot of poetry. I don’t dislike poetry, but I always feel like I’m not smart enough, or not romantic enough. Luckily for me, this poetry collection isn’t about being the smartest in the room, nor is it about declaring your love to someone (although maybe it is about declaring your love to something).
I absolutely loved the fact that this book takes on so many different formats, while still having a specific narrative thread. The author mentioned in the afternote the imagery of a mixtape when thinking about his work, and I really felt that. Reading this book was like listening to a very carefully curated mixtape, while at the same time reading torn pages from a journal that don’t necessarily follow each other, but don’t need to.
The different formats of poetry were super interesting and refreshing, especially for someone like me who often sees poetry as just one thing. If you can, I would advise reading some of the poems aloud - even when I couldn’t see it outright, rhythm felt very important in most of these pieces.
By setting this book in a post-apocalyptic world, the author reframes current (and very old) issues, and makes you question the kind of society we live in without offering an easy answer (there are none). How we treat others and the imagery of constellations are some of the things that really stood out to me in this book.
I rate this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.