‘The Weary World Rejoices’ by Steve Fellner
Posted on January 9, 2012 by Rigoberto Gonzalez in Poetry, Reviews
In the poem “St. Sebastian,” the speaker ponders: “How many St. Sebastian statues/ can I give as coming out gifts?” As the complex figure representing homoerotic desire and emotional/ physical torture, St. Sebastian is well-situated at the center of Steve Fellner’s hard-edged second poetry collection, which doesn’t disguise or sugar-coat the more disturbing scenarios of gay men’s lives. Indeed, Fellner writes with disarming honesty, even acerbity, as he walks past the posturing of skinny pants and pretty boy poetics to infuse the idealized queer lifestyle (more…)
‘Chulito’ by Charles Rice-González
Posted on November 8, 2011 by Rigoberto Gonzalez in Fiction, Reviews
This dazzling debut takes the coming-out, coming-of-age narrative and gives it a fresh landscape, namely, the Bronx urban scene, where the street codes are “mixed into the concrete and asphalt that was used to build the neighborhood.” (more…)
‘The Cross of Redemption Uncollected Writings’ by James Baldwin
Posted on April 18, 2011 by Rigoberto Gonzalez in Nonfiction, Reviews
Although James Baldwin (1924-1987) considered himself first and foremost a novelist, he found other genres of writing irresistible, particularly the essay, in which he was able to voice a fierce intellectual and political perspective with an unparalleled eloquence.
And during his lifetime he published no less than twenty major works including Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953), Giovanni’s Room (1956) and The Fire Next Time (1963), which have become standard texts in the articulation of identity theories.
How fitting, then, that Randall Kenan, a celebrated gay African American writer in his own right, should be enlisted to edit Baldwin’s uncollected writings, since Kenan—like Baldwin—queered, classed and racialized the American literary landscape.
(more…)
‘Normal Miguel’ by Erik Orrantia
Posted on November 22, 2010 by Rigoberto Gonzalez in Reviews, Young Adult
Set in the state of Puebla in southern Mexico, Erik Orrantia’s debut novel, Normal Miguel (Cheyenne), offers a unique experience for English readers: a heart-warming story about a young Mexican teacher in search of his soul in a rural, mostly-indigenous community.
25-year-old Miguel Hernández is openly gay, and even in mostly-liberal Mexico City, he cannot escape the hostile response to his sexuality from a mother who alienates him any chance she gets, especially when he encounters homophobia or enters a romantic relationship.
So he accepts a teaching internship in the neighboring state because “sometimes the best way of improving a family situation was by leaving it.” In the village of Comalticán, he is quickly charmed by his charges—middle school children who are already dealing with oppressive situations in their impoverished homes.
But so too is he seduced by the availability of clandestine sex with repressed homosexuals who waste no time taking advantage of the newest “butterfly boy.” (more…)
‘If Jesus Were Gay’ by Emanuel Xavier
Posted on July 29, 2010 by Rigoberto Gonzalez in Poetry, Reviews
A survivor of the gritty NYC streets, Emanuel Xavier shaped the troubling details and experiences of his past into arresting spoken-word performance pieces that were first published as Pier Queen in 1997. Since then he has undertaken other challenges–novelist, editor, and literary activist–building a strong reputation as a writer who is frank about sex and sexuality, and critical of the hostile environment that gay Latinos must endure from their many environments.
His most recent publication, If Jesus Were Gay, announces his most daring premise–holding the Latino community accountable for its homophobia (more…)
‘Mute’ by Raymond Luczak
Posted on April 22, 2010 by Rigoberto Gonzalez in Poetry
“A deaf man is a foreign country./ He remains forever a language to learn,” declares the speaker in “Instructions to Hearing Persons Desiring a Deaf Man,” one of many “educational” poems in Raymond Luczak’s newest collection of poetry. A deaf poet, Luczak offers plenty of helpful tips for men pursuing a relationship or romance with other men who also happen to be hearing-impaired. From the poem “How to Fall for a Deaf Man”:
Do not be startled by how
much eye contact he requires.
Do not be afraid of his face.
Do not feel surprised
when you call him later on the voice relay service
and find how clearly you understand him.
Rigoberto González: 5 Poets Who Changed My Life
Posted on April 2, 2010 by Rigoberto Gonzalez in 5 Poets
Any poet will say that it takes a community of poets to shape a single life, so it is with plenty of hesitation that I single out five of them, all but one of whom have passed on. Highlighting five makes me feel ungrateful to the other five hundred, but as I write and revise my list, I keep coming back to the following names for very different reasons. (more…)
‘Long Distance’ by Steven Cordova
Posted on March 18, 2010 by Rigoberto Gonzalez in Poetry
In Steven Cordova’s poem “13 Things to Do Once I’m Dead,” “Stop thinking about death” tops the list. This starting point seems to imply that death is an obsession for the poet, and that the obsession is bleak—think Sylvia Plath and the poetics of suicide, think Anne Sexton and the poetics of darkness. But the poem is actually a tip of the hat to Wallace Stevens’ “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” which sees the subject through varied lenses and differing portraits, from the noble to the comic. Number 5 in Cordova’s list is “Claim I stand just under 6’,” and number 12 is “Make every day Day of the Day”—a nod to his Mexican American heritage and to a celebration that places the dead within a festive, not sullen, context. (more…)
‘The Other Side of Paradise’ by Staceyann Chin
Posted on February 1, 2010 by Rigoberto Gonzalez in Bio/Memoir
Spoken word artist and political activist Staceyann Chin lowers her voice a few decibels to deliver a surprisingly quiet and touching memoir about growing up in Jamaica in the 70s and 80s. Though she’s born in the small town of Lottery and lives out her adolescence in the town of Paradise, Chin’s early years are far from lucky or idyllic. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, Chin and her older brother are raised by their maternal grandmother in an impoverished neighborhood. But even in a place that has witnessed more shameful tragedies, Chin is immediately cast as an outsider because of her light skin—evidence of a foreign, non-black paternity. Her status as a “white girl” elicits everything from admiration to envy, but such perceived privilege is not enough to spare her the grief of feeling like an unwanted child. (more…)
‘All Screwed Up’ by Steve Fellner
Posted on January 19, 2010 by Rigoberto Gonzalez in Bio/Memoir
When Steve Fellner’s mother is asked by the school principal whether she wants her son to see a psychiatrist, Mrs. Fellner, indignant, responds: “Of course not. I worked hard to ensure he wouldn’t turn out like all the other boring kids who go through this school system. When he gets older, he’ll have plenty of material. He’ll thank me for messing him up.” End of discussion. All Screwed Up is the result of one of many outlandish decisions made by the most eccentric of mother figures. (more…)
