From this collection I tagged…
A Gay Poem,
and
Playing His Music on Shuffle (Or How Friend A Describes That Causal Encounter)
the last stanza of which is
I hope one day he uncovers the praise song in his bed frame.
I hope that day he learns to dance away his shame, with
a man who fears neither worship nor repentance.
That poem, and the collection as a whole, speaks of being Gay and being either a person of faith or someone surrounded by Christian teaching – the very next poem is titled Highlights of the Old Testament and concludes “I reread Leviticus. Guiltless.” My delight came from the queer encounter with faith. And so I find it a little odd that that blurb on the back talks of Keith’s “black British identity” and “Caribbean roots” but does not mention the two parts of his identity (I assume given the content of the poems) that were most exciting to me. Courageous poems, cowardly marketing?
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