A wonderful second publication from Kaveh Akbar.

This one was challenging — in subject matter, in structure, in any way you put it — but was a very worthwhile read. Like his first collection, Akbar grapples with alcoholism and recovery in poems such as “Seven Years Sober,” as well as his relationship with his family and his religion. Akbar once again did not shy away from talking about political and historical events, including multiple poems about remote warfare perpetuated by Western forces and the Shadian massacre. But in this collection, he goes deeper. He allows himself to say plainly what horrors are happening (such as in “Shadian Incident”), instead of hiding them behind flowery language. I also find the structure intriguing; all of these poems, tied together by the continual “Pilgrim Bells” — are they all one, or do they just share the same name? Does it end, or could they all be strung together and read in series? This, plus the more inventive stylistic choices (forgetting the name, but the one that was a bunch of squares set inside each other is on my mind) made this a more daring release and I do think it paid off.

Some favorites of mine are the closing poem "The Palace," as well as "Forfeiting My Mystique," "How Prayer Works," "Seven Years Sober," and "In the Language of Mammon."

Up until the moment I published this, I couldn’t decide on a numerical ranking, or even if I liked this collection more than the first. What ultimately tipped the scale is that I can quote lines from this one unintentionally. I have rolled them over on my tongue for so long they have stuck.