Book Review: American Entropy

Reviewed by Mandy Bach

Both a seething criticism of the American political climate and a compelling argument for interpersonal closeness

American Entropy by Travis Hupp is an expansive exploration into the emotional life of a speaker vehemently defying homophobia, racism, and apathy in the political, religious, and social systems that surround us today. The collection is divided across six sections: Anger, Politics, Metaphysical, Despair, Hope, and Love, and each are filled with poems that feel attentive, uninhibited, and, at times, tender.

Hupp’s speaker begins with political poems that offer fiercely articulate and seething criticisms of Donald Trump, MAGA rhetoric, and our current political regime. From that point on, Hupp moves readers through an emotional minefield of his queer and religious speaker’s mind, discovering and examining his rage and grief, his disgust and guilt, his reverence and joy.

American Entropy’s greatest poetic strength is its rawness: Hupp isn’t afraid to describe the great depth of his speaker’s emotions.

I was captivated by the way those feelings twist and compound throughout the collection. Imagery is warped by that emotion: the Statue of Liberty is violated, American patriotism is poisoned, the tiny animal moments of pets are signs of God. In moments where the prescriptive language falls short, Hupp uses his imagery to bring readers into the world of his poems. In concert with the visceral imagery, the clever alliteration and surprising rhyme choices peppered throughout the collection bring a layer of sonic interest that really lights up the poems.

American Entropy saves its sensitive heart for its second half. As the speaker’s anger and frustration fade, they leave behind a man desperately reaching for tender closeness and connection with those around him. While this reaching occasionally leaves him lost in despair, at other moments it gives life and love to our speaker. In the poem “Dive Deep,” with its tumbling, rhythmic syntax and wide open depiction of desire, the speaker explores the intimacy he finds when someone reaches back.

The collection makes time for interpersonal connection, and it argues that this connection is vital for personal wellness in a fraught and derogatory social climate.

In the poem, “Beyond Our Means,” Hupp writes:

“Let’s trace some ley lines
Steal some succulence
Sneak out way into
Some party of opulence”

Richly unrestrained and thematically vast, American Entropy ask us what “poetry’s loose bones” can do for us and our communities in such a fraught political and social climate. Readers are called to analyze their own dangerous complacencies while creating space for their vital joy.

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