- When People Die is the title of this collection by Thomas Moore and it’s got a torn photo of a (seemingly) dead kid on the front. So I guess you can’t say you don’t know what you are getting into.
- He picks the guy up
From the side street
In the Marais
Some confusion
But after a blur
We’re on the
Metro to Les Halles
And within
Twenty minutes
It’s happening
I hate myself for
Being there
As well as a million
Other reasons that
Aren’t connected to now
I’m filming on his iPhone
That feels sweaty
And I zoom in
For the close ups
He has asked for
His aging face pushed
Into the boy’s crotch
His tongue looks huge
It makes me think of Freddy Kruger
Coming out of a phone
To scare Nancy
The whole thing
Is done
Within an hour
Technically at least
But in other ways
I know this will
Stick around
Much longer
(pp. 19&20)
- The lines in this book are coated in pain and sanded down with anguish.
- Colorized (but not sanitized).
- I like the way this unspools a long and obsessional line of thought like a diary entry in heat. The dangers and the awkwardness of early forays into love, relationships and sex are on display here in harsh neon.
- There is one boy that’s left
His eyes are pretty much gone
The day forgot him (pg. 37)
- The immediacy of the language, the starkness and naked imagery trace an on-again, off-again relationship fraught with lust and obsession both in this world and the virtual.
- Don’t ask me why, but I think this is fitting.
- This value of this poetry is in its willingness to take risks and, although one could no doubt point to precursors, this language is very much contemporary.
- Old men covet you
You’re the most beautiful boy
But something is wrong (pg. 69)
11. Check out this interview with Thomas Moore and Grant Maierhofer
12. Kiddiepunk is doing amazing things – get the low-down here.
12.5 Buy it here.