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The Forgotten World
In his third collection, poet Nick Courtright explores the world at large in an effort to reconcile selfhood as an American in the international community, while also seeking anchors for remembering a wider world often lost to view in our shared though increasingly isolated experience of reality.
Beginning in Africa with investigations of religion and love, The Forgotten World then moves to Latin America to tackle colonialism and whiteness. From there it travels to Asia to discuss economic stratification and Europe to explore art and mental health, culminating in a stirring homecoming to troubled America, where family, the future, and what matters most rise to the forefront of consideration.
Through all of it, Courtright displays a deft hand, at once pained, at once bright, to discover that although the wider world seems farther away than before, the lessons it offers are more needed than ever.
Beginning in Africa with investigations of religion and love, The Forgotten World then moves to Latin America to tackle colonialism and whiteness. From there it travels to Asia to discuss economic stratification and Europe to explore art and mental health, culminating in a stirring homecoming to troubled America, where family, the future, and what matters most rise to the forefront of consideration.
Through all of it, Courtright displays a deft hand, at once pained, at once bright, to discover that although the wider world seems farther away than before, the lessons it offers are more needed than ever.
- GenresPoetry
88 pages, Hardcover
Published August 1, 2021
About the author
Nick Courtright
6 books77 followersNick Courtright is the author of The Forgotten World (2021), Let There Be Light (2014) and Punchline (2012), and is the Executive Editor of Atmosphere Press. His work has appeared in The Harvard Review, Kenyon Review, and The Southern Review, among dozens of others. With a Doctorate in Literature from the University of Texas, Nick lives in Austin with the poet Lisa Mottolo and their children, William and Samuel. Find him at atmospherepress.com, nickcourtright.com, and watching birds on his porch.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 27, 2021
Short, interesting read. Stream of conscious poetry. Or seems so to me. It flows well, I felt lulled reading it, if that makes sense. I enjoyed it, felt enlightened by it, liked the lay out of it- around the world with it's many issues. Readers who like books written in verse will love it.
I received a Kindle arc from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.
I received a Kindle arc from Netgalley in exchange for a fair review.
May 14, 2021
A great collection of stories like poetry covering a vast number of countries and the issues with these countries. I enjoyed reading the poetry from the United States section as I felt a great connection with these poems.
June 2, 2021
This is a searing, self-reflective manifesto on the damage done by men, and white men in particular, to the world and to others. It's never self-pitying or defensive, but instead grapples with big ideas and difficult topics with aplomb and sensitivity.
June 28, 2021
This collection of poems by Nick Courtright attempts to reconcile the global with the personal as he chronicles his world travels and return home to America. Each step along the way reveals his desire and effort to find a place in this world as he wrestles with internal flaws and external turmoil. I enjoyed reading his thoughts, was fascinated by the snippets of insight and honesty revealed throughout these poems, and found Courtright's voice to be consistently authentic as he told his story through the lens of the world.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book!
July 22, 2021
This is a great collection of extremely sincere poetry, which my only real criticism is that it doesn't get deep enough, I feel like Courtright is holding back here and there is so much embarrassing white guilt. I don't understand, did he travel to understand the world better or to just feel bad for existing in it? I don't know though, I'm not a white man living in a world that is increasingly rejecting him. "I am a spoiled American who is a voyeur on the heritage of those who have heritage". This is fascinating to me, as someone who feels steeped in heritage, is that what white wanderlust is? Is that where it comes from? A lack of belonging? But also he, as a tourist, complains about being a tourist and other white people being tourists to other countries, when those countries have built themselves up on the money of tourism ("[...] as usual there are too many white people around"). These few attempts at social commentary totally throw me out of the poetry and redirect my mind elsewhere. As well as quips like "As if that opulence weren't enough to make anyone feel awful" literally humble bragging about being wealthy enough to travel (virtually everyone's dream) and then complaining about it? But regardless of all this, the poetry is well written, interesting, and personal. About feeling foreign, or like an invader, when you're merely driven to travel out of curiosity and respect. I think we all can relate to that. However, his poems from Europe and America I found to be the most sincere.
'A Matter of Scale' was my favorite.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gold Wake Press for the opportunity to read this and provide my honest review.
'A Matter of Scale' was my favorite.
Thank you to NetGalley and Gold Wake Press for the opportunity to read this and provide my honest review.
April 22, 2021
*3.5 rounded up to 4*
The Forgotten World is not one journey, but two. The first is an international excursion, seen through the eyes of the poet; the second is a voyage through the mind of the poet himself. I will admit that at first, I wasn't feeling the travelogue style of the collection, not because I don't appreciate traveling to foreign places, but because I found myself wrestling with the lens through which these places were being presented.
It felt, at first, like Courtright was dancing precariously close to the fine line between self-awareness and navel-gazing. As a woman whose family hails from a nation that is treated like a playground for the white and wealthy, I've developed something of a low tolerance for the "punish me, I'm a white colonizer" trope. To quote the poet, "... I looked through the screen to see the screen I was seen through", and having lived my life on the objectified end of what is often referred to as the "white gaze", even the most compassionate of voyeurs is still a voyeur.
However, I am also a firm believer in allowing people to speak their truth, and there was a vulnerability in the fact that this is Courtright's own truth. How he feels about it isn't for me to judge, and there is a marked sincerity in his poetry that cannot be denied. Courtright is indeed very much so aware of himself as an individual and sees himself as a continuation of a heritage that has wrought much destruction across the world. He alludes to atrocities that span centuries and continents, and I have an appreciation for using art as a tool for expanding awareness.
What redeems Courtright and this collection of poetry is the fact that he doesn't stew indulgently in white guilt (thankfully), and instead makes peace with simply trying to be a better person and raise better people. He also contends with a number of other themes such as mental health, the tumultuous state of America, and his complicated relationship with religion. I particularly enjoyed Courtright's poems about love - love that is nearing its end, love that has gone up in flames, and the enduring kind of love that one pours into their children. In the end, these are the poems that won me over.
Thanks to Nick Courtright and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Forgotten World is not one journey, but two. The first is an international excursion, seen through the eyes of the poet; the second is a voyage through the mind of the poet himself. I will admit that at first, I wasn't feeling the travelogue style of the collection, not because I don't appreciate traveling to foreign places, but because I found myself wrestling with the lens through which these places were being presented.
It felt, at first, like Courtright was dancing precariously close to the fine line between self-awareness and navel-gazing. As a woman whose family hails from a nation that is treated like a playground for the white and wealthy, I've developed something of a low tolerance for the "punish me, I'm a white colonizer" trope. To quote the poet, "... I looked through the screen to see the screen I was seen through", and having lived my life on the objectified end of what is often referred to as the "white gaze", even the most compassionate of voyeurs is still a voyeur.
However, I am also a firm believer in allowing people to speak their truth, and there was a vulnerability in the fact that this is Courtright's own truth. How he feels about it isn't for me to judge, and there is a marked sincerity in his poetry that cannot be denied. Courtright is indeed very much so aware of himself as an individual and sees himself as a continuation of a heritage that has wrought much destruction across the world. He alludes to atrocities that span centuries and continents, and I have an appreciation for using art as a tool for expanding awareness.
What redeems Courtright and this collection of poetry is the fact that he doesn't stew indulgently in white guilt (thankfully), and instead makes peace with simply trying to be a better person and raise better people. He also contends with a number of other themes such as mental health, the tumultuous state of America, and his complicated relationship with religion. I particularly enjoyed Courtright's poems about love - love that is nearing its end, love that has gone up in flames, and the enduring kind of love that one pours into their children. In the end, these are the poems that won me over.
Thanks to Nick Courtright and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
September 10, 2021
Nick Courtright’s new collection of poems comes at the perfect time. After a year of isolation and stay-at-home orders, his book takes us on a tour of The Forgotten World. He accepts the role of poet as traveling bard, and his poems dazzle, instruct, admonish, and often make us laugh aloud. There is adventure and homecoming here, a call to action for both travel and nesting. These are poems I want to carry with me on the road and revisit in a cozy corner at home.
December 14, 2021
Some may think that the world is a backward and unenlightened place when they read some the poetry Nick Courtright has put forward in The Forgotten World, but that is not what he is saying. Globetrotting Americans are seen by the rest of the world to be wealthy and entitled, traveling wherever we wish, when we wish, in grand opulence. Some may consider others who are less fortunate than we are to be somehow less substantial, or ill-equipped to deal with a changing world. Courtright points out time and again, through his poetry, that it is we who are substantially unequipped to handle the world as it presents itself to us.
Nuanced customs and practices are non-existent or unrecognized by the much older cultures around the globe. The differences in the customs practiced by other societies and our own society are astutely observed and related in The Forgotten World.
Courtright's poems call into question our religious and societal norms, our values and our unspoken obligation as citizens of the world to respect other cultures. Other societies are devoted to maintaining their cultural beliefs and religious practices, even if they seem odd or impractical to us. In the end, we are not very different than they are in the ways in which we carry on and practice our own sets of beliefs.
I especially enjoyed "Inside Everyone is a Skull" which recounts conditions on the ground in Cambodia, as well as evidence of a violent past which still lingers there. His description of a monkey pulling over the rope railing in a temple is a great Darwinian metaphor for hope. Courtright comes back to this again later in "A Matter of Scale". "...the great monkey grandfather whose works are etched in mud we've yet to uncover," written about an evolving world, perhaps held back by its own traditions, perhaps saved by those same traditions from becoming totally unrecognizable as is the city in the poem "The Last Samurai". There are many thought-provoking poems I can relate to here.
The Forgotten World is not lacking in humor, in title or in content. "The Italians Have it Right" comes off as a little sexy and funny at the same time, but that is the author's style of writing shining through the sparsely punctuated sentences.
In his amusingly titled "My Mother Shaving Her Legs", the author mixes prescient observations with commentary about the number of possessions we own. Courtright brings us back to a central theme when he says, "It's hard to make sense of feeling the need for something when there is so much already had." This is certainly good commentary for the modern world in which we live.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Courtright's style of writing is very entertaining, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone.
Nuanced customs and practices are non-existent or unrecognized by the much older cultures around the globe. The differences in the customs practiced by other societies and our own society are astutely observed and related in The Forgotten World.
Courtright's poems call into question our religious and societal norms, our values and our unspoken obligation as citizens of the world to respect other cultures. Other societies are devoted to maintaining their cultural beliefs and religious practices, even if they seem odd or impractical to us. In the end, we are not very different than they are in the ways in which we carry on and practice our own sets of beliefs.
I especially enjoyed "Inside Everyone is a Skull" which recounts conditions on the ground in Cambodia, as well as evidence of a violent past which still lingers there. His description of a monkey pulling over the rope railing in a temple is a great Darwinian metaphor for hope. Courtright comes back to this again later in "A Matter of Scale". "...the great monkey grandfather whose works are etched in mud we've yet to uncover," written about an evolving world, perhaps held back by its own traditions, perhaps saved by those same traditions from becoming totally unrecognizable as is the city in the poem "The Last Samurai". There are many thought-provoking poems I can relate to here.
The Forgotten World is not lacking in humor, in title or in content. "The Italians Have it Right" comes off as a little sexy and funny at the same time, but that is the author's style of writing shining through the sparsely punctuated sentences.
In his amusingly titled "My Mother Shaving Her Legs", the author mixes prescient observations with commentary about the number of possessions we own. Courtright brings us back to a central theme when he says, "It's hard to make sense of feeling the need for something when there is so much already had." This is certainly good commentary for the modern world in which we live.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Courtright's style of writing is very entertaining, and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone.
January 31, 2022
This is a book about travelling: through the world and through life. I have been to many of the places the poet describes in both of these areas, and I am drawn in by the similarity of our experiences. Travelling brings out inevitable themes of communication and colonialism, the nature of art and the difficulty of putting time into perspective, and I find myself in agreement with many of his ideas.
As we expect in a volume of poetry, some of these poems are more accessible than others. “American Idiot” speaks of a common experience for most travellers. It makes a simple statement, and I think I got most of it. “You—Zombi” I’m not so sure about/ When it comes to“The Italians Have It Right,” I have no idea what’s going on, but the line about Judas carries enough meaning for the whole poem. Some of the poems are collages of ideas, each of which I understand, but sometimes the overall picture eludes me. The way to enjoy them is to let them flow over you and past you, in the hope that something will remain.
And I should have read “Conclusion” first, because it makes so much of the rest of the poems clearer. This overall form echoes the structure of many of the poems, which often end with an unexpected twist like an O Henry short story, putting a whole different interpretation on the poem. This drive by the poet to explain the idea to us instead of communicating the feeling is central to the work.
One element that immediately strikes the reader is that here we have poet who knows how to use punctuation and syntax to mold and shade the meaning of the work. For example, let’s look at the ending of “$8 ‘Nikes’:”
“One more café au lait should do the trick,
because then I will never sleep again,
which means never again will I wake.”
When we read this aloud, the first two lines are set in the rhythm of normal speech. But the last line switches the word order from what the poet has led us to expect, forcing us to slow down and imbue them with more meaning, because they tell the real story of the poem.
Imagery comes rarely in these poems, but lines like this make up for it with their power.
“the boys scrape their machetes
against the cobblestone and the sound it makes
is like reading Braille with broken fingers.”
In general, I found the style of the poetry to be a bit austere. All the writing skill in the world doesn’t help to communicate when you don’t evoke the reader’s emotions. The only chink in the poet’s intellectual armour is his love for his children, which he does not analyze, but only experiences for us, and so draws us in.
Recommended for fans of the poetry of ideas.
As we expect in a volume of poetry, some of these poems are more accessible than others. “American Idiot” speaks of a common experience for most travellers. It makes a simple statement, and I think I got most of it. “You—Zombi” I’m not so sure about/ When it comes to“The Italians Have It Right,” I have no idea what’s going on, but the line about Judas carries enough meaning for the whole poem. Some of the poems are collages of ideas, each of which I understand, but sometimes the overall picture eludes me. The way to enjoy them is to let them flow over you and past you, in the hope that something will remain.
And I should have read “Conclusion” first, because it makes so much of the rest of the poems clearer. This overall form echoes the structure of many of the poems, which often end with an unexpected twist like an O Henry short story, putting a whole different interpretation on the poem. This drive by the poet to explain the idea to us instead of communicating the feeling is central to the work.
One element that immediately strikes the reader is that here we have poet who knows how to use punctuation and syntax to mold and shade the meaning of the work. For example, let’s look at the ending of “$8 ‘Nikes’:”
“One more café au lait should do the trick,
because then I will never sleep again,
which means never again will I wake.”
When we read this aloud, the first two lines are set in the rhythm of normal speech. But the last line switches the word order from what the poet has led us to expect, forcing us to slow down and imbue them with more meaning, because they tell the real story of the poem.
Imagery comes rarely in these poems, but lines like this make up for it with their power.
“the boys scrape their machetes
against the cobblestone and the sound it makes
is like reading Braille with broken fingers.”
In general, I found the style of the poetry to be a bit austere. All the writing skill in the world doesn’t help to communicate when you don’t evoke the reader’s emotions. The only chink in the poet’s intellectual armour is his love for his children, which he does not analyze, but only experiences for us, and so draws us in.
Recommended for fans of the poetry of ideas.
August 5, 2021
Short but not sweet, "The Forgotten World" is one white man's lament about his race. Throughout the book, the author shares his frustration at all the trouble white people cause around the world. I get that whites and all races have committed crimes against others, but I can't change my color. Instead, I wish to use the blessings I have to impact my sphere of influence and spread love, compassion, kindness, and justice.
I did appreciate the author's note that he wishes to no longer be a tourist in his own life and the reminder to live with love. Also, proceeds of this book go to several charities that address the author's troubles and are striving to make a difference in this world.
I did appreciate the author's note that he wishes to no longer be a tourist in his own life and the reminder to live with love. Also, proceeds of this book go to several charities that address the author's troubles and are striving to make a difference in this world.
March 9, 2023
With striking visual images and rich, nuanced storytelling, the poet navigates his understanding of - and place in - the world that lies beyond the margins of his own culture. The poems are accessible and honest, often thought-provoking or simply beautiful. An impressive collection.
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August 17, 2021Featured on Lone Star Book Blog Tours.
October 18, 2021
It was just an okay read, flows well but nothing connected. Not for me this one.
Thank you, NetGalley for providing an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. 😊🙏🏾
Thank you, NetGalley for providing an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. 😊🙏🏾
July 3, 2021
"Literally they are stacked high
No one knows who belongs to these skulls
People responsible for this go unprosecuted today
But it's a new day
A monkey pulls over a rope railing protecting a priceless work of stone-carved temple art"
Thank you NetGalley for a chance to read and review this!
This has a terrible cover. The kind of cover that makes you think that the poems will also be terrible, and so the bar was really low. So low that I was genuinely surprised when I found myself enjoying some of Nicks's poems, with "Inside Everyone is a Skull" and "Venus" being my personal favorites.
No one knows who belongs to these skulls
People responsible for this go unprosecuted today
But it's a new day
A monkey pulls over a rope railing protecting a priceless work of stone-carved temple art"
Thank you NetGalley for a chance to read and review this!
This has a terrible cover. The kind of cover that makes you think that the poems will also be terrible, and so the bar was really low. So low that I was genuinely surprised when I found myself enjoying some of Nicks's poems, with "Inside Everyone is a Skull" and "Venus" being my personal favorites.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews