Sanctuaries of the Beer Years

“Witty, poignant, and unexpectedly romantic. Max Enos takes readers on a heart-wrenching and simultaneously heart-warming journey through nostalgia. His words vividly paint the flux and confusion of ‘belonging’ when home holds many meanings. Enos’s work touches on the inner anxieties and ailments of the human condition while providing subtle, yet sharp social commentary on American life. A brilliant body of work that honors the past while acknowledging hindsight, Enos’s poetry draws you into his world, travels, and insights and leaves you wanting more.”


—Roxanna Azari, award-winning poet and performer





“Max Enos’s poems exist in a twilit landscape, word-drunk or beer-drunk, but always wry and prescient. . . . From the gritty streets of Worcester and Lowell or the liminal landscapes of Gloucester and Rockport to the chaos of Seoul, these poems ‘Look through the darkness at the ivy bushes / past the secret grief of city dogs / to stray cats, perfect in moonless wanderings.’ The meditative poems of Sanctuaries of the Beer Years mark an auspicious debut.”


—Sue Standing, author of False Horizon