Pistol Pantomimes

A hypothetical loomed over Ryan Buynak while he was writing this book, which you hold and hopefully read. One of those questions that changes your everything. "How do you alter your life?" Ryan tells, "and I thought I should write this down, put down some things I wanted to say to people. And while doing that, I realized maybe it's also some things I wish people had said to me." Building on 2019's Stolen Days in LA, this book finds Mr. Buynak continuing his evolution from punk poet to one of the more subtle stylists in his field, touching on atmospheric anti-poetry, stabbing sentences, playful ballads of bad times, naive but self-possessed stories of the transfiguration of age. Amongst the poems are a handful of meditations on the plight of the poet and people in this foul 21st century. "This whole book is a big, big expression of helplessness," Ryan said. "Feelings that, at times, I tried to temper, and at other times have tried to embrace." Still, the overarching mood of this book is one of appreciation, of finding bright corners in dark spaces, of shrugging it off without shutting down. "If you've ever felt mournful, adrift, and just want to laugh at it all...this book is for you." Mr. Buynak says with an attempted wink, even though he can't wink. This book proves poetry can tell a story of love and loss; poetry can stab you in the heart; poetry can help you laugh at everything, anything. This book proves life is about breaking bad habits and trying to be better, simply, truly, and unmercifully. This book proves Ryan Buynak is a complicated writer full of selfish hope.