What does it mean to lose a father? What is the legacy of fatherhood? Nick Flynn’s jagged, lyrical poems attempt to make sense of these questions and the clutter left behind in our lives. In My Feelings (Graywolf Press) Flynn’s fourth book of poetry, the author makes no claims on anyone else’s. These poems inhabit a continually shifting sense of selfhood, in the attempt to contain quicksilver realms of emotional energy—from grief and panic to gratitude and understanding. A major subject is the death of Flynn’s father, a formerly homeless man suffering from mental illness and delusions of his own grandeur, portrayed in Flynn’s award-winning memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City. The Washington Post writes, “My Feelings offers no easy answers, yet the writing and the desire for transcendence make the journey compelling.”
