R. H. Sin

Spring 2019;

I did a solid bowl through a ton of R.H. Sin about a month ago, so I'm rating all three of these together. I love the private but invited, feel of Sin's confessional poetry, and I love how his voice adds to the confessional poetry wave that is dominated by women, most especially Lang, Loveless, Kaur, and so on.

He brings a different kind of bent to it, from the outside, and it helps me a) the viewpoint of a male looking in on these situations and b) that of a significant other show more helping a women in these same situations to heal, and how long a process that is, and the kind of grace toward love and your lover, and anger at the world, and want to help others it can leave one with.


I do both find that his poetry gets a bit repetitive in places, and across different books, and do get a little leery when his poems get of a sexual nature, but they are not graphically vulgar and so there is nothing in my rating that has anything to do with that. (In the first instance it was celebratory and it was about all the power still belonging to a woman, but it was a surprise all the same.) It's just an aside that I feel bears some warning to women who are heading into his poetry books. show less

Interlude for the survivor.

the pain means you're alive
the scars mean
you've always survived


Whiskey Words & a Shovel II by r.h. Sin is the author's second collection of poetry. Mr. Sin is a minimalist when it comes to a biography -- An old Facebook page, a closed Twitter account, and an Instagram account with plenty of pictures of his poems.

Sometimes great things happen by accident. I saw this book and immediately started it. A few years ago I read a similar sounding collection called The show more Shovel and The Hare and assumed this was the sequel. I was wrong but wrong in the best way.

Poetry, for many, is something that offers a warm embrace either with love, nature, or observations on life. Sin offers an embrace that is more of a bear hug, or a gentle tap with a 12lb hammer. As with his public biography, Sin is also a minimalist with his words. Many poems are a few lines but hit deeper than paragraphs or pages. Counterfeit love, loss, and pain run deep in this collection. But, it is not depressing; it is more of a sharing. For all the readers share the same experiences to some extent, the same feelings; you are not alone is the message. Sin gives the reader a blinding white light of emotion and awakens our own memories.

Sin gives advice perhaps it is selfish or maybe it is altruistic. Women must take charge of their lives stop being the person a man wants you to be. Start being the person you deserve to be. Be your own person not an attachment to a male. One might guess Sin is a woman proclaiming liberation, but Sin is male. Perhaps he is the man who has seen too many women he holds in esteem fall and fall again for the wrong person -- Treated poorly, not appreciated, not allowed to be who they are.

There are a few "happy" poems. One I shared with a friend, who responded along the lines of true but facile. That reaction had me look again at the poem and the collection. I thought it was a clearing in the darkness of the collection, but after some thought, yes it did seem trite. Why does the happy poem seem so shallow compared to the depth of the others? My reflections took me to the opening line of Anna Karenina: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Happiness seems to be the same. If someone is happy the reason is not important. Sadness or loss requires explanation. It sits deeper in our being and is not fleeting like happiness. Loss or death takes much longer to get past than happiness. People refer to moments of happiness and an eternity of struggle. We want happiness while we endure the struggles of life. We create mental and emotional records that last our entire lives. They are scars that offer proof that we endured and survived. Deeply emotional, dark, realistic, and a moving collection. Perhaps the most stimulating collection I have read in a long time. show less

2.75 ⭐⭐✨

Whiskey Words & a Shovel I is a collection of poems that explores themes of heartbreak, love, loss and healing. After finishing the book, I found myself needing to sit with my thoughts for a while before writing this review. Some poems really resonated with me, while the others felt quite repetitive; often rephrasing the same words/lines & ideas across multiple pieces. That being said, the longer poems stood out to me, and I found myself wanting more of those poems that show more stretched beyond just a few lines. There is, however, an emotional honesty in these pieces that I truly respect and appreciate, even if they didn't all resonate with me.

I would like the author to delve further into the deeper themes briefly touched upon, such as racism and emotional healing. These moments hinted at powerful depth and contributed meaningful layers to the collection, illustrating the author's potential to explore powerful, thought-provoking themes with care, complexity, and strength.

Still Whiskey Words & a Shovel I is great for those who like this style of poetry (mostly short quotable pieces) and who enjoy raw, direct reflections on love and heartbreak. show less

Whiskey Words & a Shovel III by r.h. Sin is the final collection in series. Sin took the world by surprise. Little in the way of biography and a few words on each page. His talent is deconstructing the complexities of life and especially relationships into a few words. Much like pulling a meaningful quote out of a song, that little bit of the whole that ties everything together. Sin's poems have gotten longer and although the pages are small the words for more than a single page. The work is show more as well done as in the first two collections and is no way a collection of what was left over.

Sins first Whiskey Words & and Shovel is still in demand. I bought the first collection, after reviewing the second, for $17. Now the book is going for $150. I have received emails from people asking if I am willing to sell my copy for a reasonable price; I passed it on already. The writing is a hit for those in their twenties where the writing is most relevant. The themes are the same though out the collections -- Love, relationships, treating a woman right, feminism, and patience. The poet also spends much time on paying tribute to a woman, Samantha. His writing to her is much like Petrarch's writing of Laura. Longer than the earlier collections with lengthier poems as well as his signature short poems, Sin closes the trilogy on a high note. show less