Litkit 2016:

This book was absolutely gorgeous and I spent a whole lot of time taking screenshots of the poems I love best and sending them to my best friend. I will definitely be reading more of Mike's works in the future. ( )

"It's one thing to say that I'm worthy of love

it's another thing to say that I'm worthy of my own"
In Search of Midnight made its way on my radar thanks to LitKit and their fantastic boxes. Though I have a few favorite poets and favorite poems, poetry is not something I seek out so I was excited to be introduced to a new poet.

First of all, this book feels amazing in my hand. It has this cover that's like, I don't know, rubberized or something? It's definitely not actually rubber but it has a texture that's incredibly satisfying. Graphics and font and colors and everything are amazing, so good job to the book designer.

As to the poems. I think the same thing is true of this book as is true for most poetry collections I've read: I really liked a few of the poems and the rest I didn't care much about. The ones I loved, I loved. The ones I didn't were fine. At no point did I roll my eyes and wish the book would hurry up and be over.

"I will gladly

take on your ocean

just to swim beneath you

so I can kiss the bends of your knees

in appreciation for the work they do

keeping your head above water"
That may not sound like incredible praise for a book but these are very personal poems and I think it would be challenging to find a reader who identified with all of them. Or maybe not, but either way I'm not that reader. ( )