On the Rocks

Title: On the Rocks

Author: Taylor Dibbert (Guatemala, 2006-08)

Published: Anxiety Press, August, 2024

Review by:Eugénie de Rosier (Philippines, 2006-08)

An Old Fashioned, served in a rocks glass, shares space with a human heart, whose pulmonary artery, aorta, and superior vena cava are just barely discernable on the black-on-black cover of Taylor Dibbert’s latest poetry collection.

The cover art tells a story of foreboding that is impossible to miss, while the title, On the Rocks, brings into focus a lens colored by Dibbert’s third-person narrator, and that man’s reflections on his relationship with alcohol. This is not Dibbert’s first time to write on this subject. 

The poet’s latest collection of poems, clear and concise slices of life, is not a soothing book. His narrator’s ability to examine his struggle with drinking communicates an acute awareness of what immoderation doesn’t solve.

The unnamed narrator’s dog, London, died, and for a time he is inconsolable. A friend asks about his dog, unaware of the dog’s death, in “London Update”:

…And he’s struggling
To make
Eye contact
And he’s
About to cry
That London
Passed away
And they talk
About it
For a bit. …

A pet’s death is a cause for grief, but the man recognizes the bigger griefs that surround us in life, and he assesses how he has not been present for some to whom he has obligations. The narrator writes about a wife he loved—still loves, perhaps—and a child, whom he mentions only once in this collection.

Dibbert shows his charater to be cognizant of what his habit may be doing to his body, as in “Easy Tonight”:

He just got
The results of
His bloodwork,
Everything looks fine,
The beers
Are poised
To go down
Easy tonight.

What the narrator can control is his response to the things that happen to him and around him. In “Pieces of his Heart,” time is helping him heal, providing a welcome moment of hope, but he still does not take full responsibility for what he can control.

He finally managed
To pick up
The pieces
Of his heart,
Figured out
How to put things
Together again,
Everything’s now
Back in place,
Unfortunately,
Things probably
Won’t break the same way.
Next time.

Dibbert’s latest work is a difficult read. With his convincing language and imagery, his poems could influence his audience. On the Rocks may not be for everyone, but it is telling nonetheless.

Originally published on peacecorpsworldwide.org ‍ Feb 18, 2026