"[6] Upon awarding Keene the National Book Award for Poetry, the judges stated that "John Keene’s poems in Punks: New & Selected Poems invoke the notion of flow—which speaks beautifully to the idea of fluidity and movement in form—a flow that is constantly being interrupted by philosophical musings and deep longings, thick with queer desire ... Punks is a monumental enterprise in scrupulous and hopeful transformations.

The Poetry Foundation appreciated Keene's diversity of styles and techniques, observing that his poems "move fluently among so many modes—personal, political, experimental, anecdotal, lyrical".

[8] Also for the Poetry Foundation, J. Howard Rosier called the book "a singular achievement" consisting of its unique, different parts, in which an understanding of Keene's self is greatly deepened with complexity.

[9] Chicago Review argued that the title represented Keene's defiance against "American poetry writ large ... for its whiteness, its maleness, and its alignment with state and institutional power"; the critic observed how Keene's "formal plenitude" paired with his approach to the "historical record" made for a poetry collection with strong conviction.

[10] Similarly, the Poetry Project said the various technical angles Keene employs in his poems allow him to develop depth on "the social space from where his writing self-consciously operates.