Gay Poems for Red States
Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr.’s poetry collection is a celebration of the awkwardness of growing up queer and poor.
These autobiographical, narrative poems focus on Carver’s coming-of-age in rural Kentucky. They track his religious anxieties, the area’s homophobia, and acts toward finding acceptance wherever he could, often from teachers. Some poems also depict Carver’s relationships with important people in his life, including his brother, his father, and the man who became his husband.
Although the content of the collection is often grim, it is treated with beauty and humor. “Cornmeal and Water Pancakes” is about a family too poor to afford pancake ingredients, whose mother decides to recreate the dish with the titular ingredients: “[Mother] loved the cornmeal and water / with her hands until / it agreed to stay together…. / [it] agreed against all laws of physics / to softly brown.” Rejoicing in the moment, the poem switches to a lyrical register with the unexpected redefinition of “love”; its tone becomes lighthearted as it addresses the impossibility of the dish.
The collection makes effective use of formal poetic devices, and its entries reward close reading. In “Creek,” a poem about living in a trailer, Carver writes, “hog bacon was the kind we killed ourselves. / I killed myself / to leave the holler / and bought pink store pork.” The repeated “killed” juxtaposition makes the second use surprising and dangerous. This emotion is compounded by the enjambment, which turns the phrase “I killed myself” claustrophobic compared to the long line that preceded it. By choosing store-bought pork, Carver is conforming to society, thereby “killing” his self-identity.
The poems collected in Gay Poems for Red States center a poor, queer Southern youth who’s struggling to survive; they seek moments of solace.
Reviewed by
George Hajjar
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
