Saturday, 7 August 2021

Pricks in the Tapestry by Jameson Fitzpatrick

 Out of print, but buy it from abebooks.co.uk  


The phrase that came to mind reading this collection was “exhaustingly brilliant” - it is so so good, the intensity, so many of the poems felt like they were giving voice to my own feelings, my own life …


From Scintilla, Star, which seems to speak of taking control of the terms of your exclusion.


I found it was better,

if I could not be no one,

to be someone. Small, but

particular. Specified, which was

an apprenticeship for special.

Cold, another word for cool.


The Last Analysis; or, I Woke Up begins “and it was political.” and lists a range of ordinary things, which are, or can be, deemed “political” acts – living an ordinary life as a queer person can become a subversive political act, and that can be tiring…


Short Essay on the Lyric-Conceptual Divide talks about addiction – and it made me cry.


How to Feel Good is a witty look at some of the advice you get for combatting depression, and I especially love the line:

I tried exercising

but I liked not exercising too much.”


A Poem for Pulse contains the line

Love can’t block a bullet

but neither can it be shot down,

and love is, for the most part, what makes us.”


Craigslist Ode reminds me that sex does not have to be “true love” for it not to be shameful, despite so much else that tells us that it is a binary choice.

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