"There's no story. No sleepless dawn. No twilight. Nothing happened. My mother disappears whatever blights her the way she now makes her living: altering and tailoring the story, as though the truth were stories to be hemmed. She changes and is changed by how she tells her story. There is no truth. Only a version. Aversion. A verge. A vengeance."

Tran conveys a lot through few words in a beautiful and dark retelling of events.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Arc.

Colby Mills once felt destined for a musical career, but tragedy grounded his dreams. Now the dust has settled, he spontaneously takes a gig playing at a bar in Florida, seeking a rare break from his duties at home.

I think that there are two ways to enjoy poetry. One is where you enjoy the actual words and form; the more mechanical aspects of the poetry. The second is where you enjoy the way in which it moves you.

Trans collection was entertaining in a mechanical sense. There was good variety in form, some interesting word play and a careful, sometimes almost clinical weaving of the poems together.

However, this clinical feel is partly what prevented me from enjoying it in the second sense. The content is heavy, with a lot of sexual violence referenced as well as a lot of trauma. But something about it didn't feel authentic, despite the right sort of expression being used. I couldn't connect to it and it simply didn't move me in a way that a subject such as this could. I also felt that the detailed explanations of poetic inspiration at the end also spoiled that subjective experience. It was nice to confirm the art and stories that helped to inspire the poems, I suppose, but some took completely away from my original thoughts or reactions to the poems.

A poetic interrogation of the ripples of trauma which emanate out from acts of violence. Each poem unfurls like the petals of a flower, playing with language and phonemes to arrange and rearrange meaning and memory into ephemeral tapestries of words. Superlative and sublime.

“All the flowers kneeling” is a display of traditional forms of poetry that explore nature and existence in reference to suffering and living void of common sensationalism. A thoughtful read you can consume in one go.

Thank you to Penguin and Net Galley for access to an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

All the Flowers Kneeling is at once emotionally charged and emotionally distant, a balance that is hard to strike and yet perfectly encapsulates the experience of trauma survivors and narratives. Tran explores some deeply upsetting occurrences through the poetic lens – Incident Report was particularly striking, and stayed with me for a long time after reading.

As a poetry student, many of the devices used in the first section were incredibly enjoyable to read. Further into the collection, they did seem to lose their use a bit, becoming more for the sake of use than actually contributing to the poem. Furthermore, the explanation of each poem at the end of the book, while perhaps useful for the author attempting to get their point across, I felt defeated the point of poetry, which is supposed to be the more subjective of writing styles. Removing the reader's ability to interpret the poem their own way removed some of the versatility and accessibility that is at risk of being lost in such a personal collection.

Some of this collection does fall into the strange current trend of not titling poems, which I find makes them blur together here as an indistinct mass of words across many pages. The first section, which had titles, was far more distinct and memorable – and indeed engaging. Whilst this can be read as an artistic choice, I found it hard to read, and the device did not pay off sufficiently.

3/5

Poetry is very subjective and for me these poems personally weren't my favourite. The format when downloaded also made it hard to read.

Others may enjoy.

Thank you for the arc.

So many of these poems were amazing - notably the one's that explored Trans' relationship with their father: Chrome, Sacred Heart, The First Law of Motion, The Landscape of the Fall of Icarus. I also really enjoyed Incident Report and Progress Report. The rest were okay in comparison to these, but these particular poems were heart wrenching at time, and so full of feeling at all times. My biggest issue with this collection, and the only reason it hasn't gotten 5 stars, if I'm honest, is the annoying issue with the end of the poems. So many of the poems end of on some cliche, cringe overdone word play that detract from the poem itself - e.g. in Scheherazade/Scheherazade: "There is no truth. Only a version. Aversion . A verge. A vengeance." and several other endings to verses in that particular poem that follow this - similar to "But I didn't mean the blade in your head, I meant the blade in your mind.". These just feel lazy and fake-smart to me - reminding me of Gabbie Hanna's poetry which I despise. Other than that though I loved the structural changes in style, the length, the language and the subtly.

This is a powerful collection of poems which deals with sex, power, violence and beauty in a range of both hard and soft ways.

I found it tender and beautiful to read, and it was great to let it wash over me and get excited by the ways language is used throughout. It did not always work for me, but I am very excited to see what Tran writes next!

I received an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It's crucial to highlight that poetry is deeply personal, and without shared experiences or ways of thinking, it's unlikely that a person will relate to or take something from every poem in a collection.

This collection delves into a variety of topics, ranging from US imperialism to sexual violence. "Bioluminescent" and "Incantation" are two of my personal favourites. Tran's approach to these topics, particularly their phrasing and word choice, strikes me as extremely valuable.

My primary issue was that I didn't think the first two poems should have been at the start. They weren't the best, and I thought that beginning with something that really set the tone for the rest of the collection would have been better. While I'm assuming this is due to Tran's background, I also noticed that a lot of the wording was very scientific, which, although it works in some cases, made certain poems difficult to understand and alienated me as a reader.

Overall, the fact that there were a few poems that really spoke to me was what drew me to this collection. I think it's worth reading, but poetry is so personal that I can only hope that others value it as much as I do or that it resonates with them as much as it did with me.

I find it hard to rate poetry books because whilst I may not relate or resonate with the words, I know that somebody else will find themselves in the words in a way in which I have not been able to. I didn’t enjoy the way the poems were written (some of the pop culture references felt cringey) but I appreciate the exploration of the authors trauma.
I’d recommend this book to anybody looking for a very quick poetry read.
Thank you so much for the arc!

A beautifully crafted collection of poems, Paul Tran speaks from the depths of human recesses. He beautiful weaves the topic of trauma into well crafted lines of rhythm and evocative word arrangements.
It took me some time to complete the book because this book need to be savoured and simple not devoured. If you pick this book up, I'd ask you to do the same.

All the Flowers Kneeling is a collection of poetry that uses diverse forms and references to explore the self in the face of violence and the importance of storytelling and refiguring to survival. A lot of the poems use repetition and wordplay very effectively, creating and breaking out of cycles as part of abuse and trauma, as well as the intergenerational effects of violence and trauma. I found that I was most drawn to some of the most cleverly crafted poems, like 'The Santa Ana', as the sense of power over language and using it in irreverent ways felt particularly powerful. I also really liked the reimagining of stories and images in 'The Nightmare: Oil on Canvas: Henry Fuseli: 1781', 'Landscape with the Fall of Icarus: Oil on Canvas: Pieter Bruegel the Elder: 1560', and the various parts of 'Scheherazade/Scheherazade', and I think the refiguring of the story of Icarus will stick with me for a while.

This was a collection that as I accidentally read all at once late at night, and definitely something to return to. I liked the notes at the end, briefing giving some of the references and inspiration if you wanted to read them, particularly for the scientific elements that are woven throughout quite a lot of the poems. It's an intimate and carefully crafted collection that leaves you thinking.

Poetry is a genre where I think the content is often intensely personal for the author, where inspiration and content is often taken from within and from their own experiences. I am also someone who struggles to connect / feels like they don't 'get' a lot of poetry. For these two reasons I don't feel placed to say too much about this debut collection beyond that I struggled to connect with it beyond a handful of poems which had some excellent lines in them (Year of the Monkey was a standout).

Thank you to NetGalley, Paul Tran and the publisher for giving me the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

A beautifully written poetry collection about trauma, I loved it so much that I read it in one sitting!

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review All the Flowers Kneeling.

This book is definitely not a quick read but it is worth the effort that you need to put in. Bioluminescence, year of the money, first law of motion are all really fantastic poems, and I want my own copy of this book to re-read them!

This is a very evocative poetry collection, very powerful and timely too.
I was touched by the agile word play and the rythm of many of the poems, as much as by their themes: institutional violence against immigrants, and rape but also of hope and precious a heritage of stories and love.

I will very much be looking forward to reading more poetry by this author as he is evidently very cultured and talented.