We’re really chuffed at the latest Unopened review, written by Corey Mesler, proprietor of Burke’s Books in Memphis and one of the south’s finest writers. Also an opportunity to say, yes, the book is officially out. Enjoy the read and click the link! Thanks, Doug.
“Doug Hoekstra is a man of words, whether as a musician or poet or short story writer. His songs are some of the most literate pop around, sung with a seductive, honey and bourbon voice that draws you into his music. This same seductiveness is present in his new book of poems, Unopened. You can hear the dark/sweet voice behind them.
And what a delightfully varied collection this is: poems of travel, love, music, family, and introspection. Hoekstra pays attention to the world, to the sensual pleasures of it: sight, sound, feel. “The radiator wretches, kicks and clanks/working its whisper into a roar,” he begins one poem. “Since anything of man/Is also of nature,/This must be/A nature poem,” he ends another. And, here, one of my favorite closing lines: “In the same way nothing is at it used to be/Except when it is.” Nostalgia is a sweet siren and the poet knows when to follow and when to move away. I’d follow Hoekstra anywhere. As they used to say about rock music, back in the day: Come for the music. Stay for the words.” (Mr. Mesler, Amazon, Goodreads)
Doug Hoekstra 