holmesstorybooks's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
3.5
canteen143's review against another edition
5.0
holyfuckthisisamazing reading this made me feel shy-
pericim's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
foggy_rosamund's review against another edition
5.0
The opening poem, Public Library 1998, describes a young man trying to find queer literature. This is a central concern for the whole collection: the erasure of queer voices, and the poet’s ongoing conversation with queer literature. Public Library 1998 is also typical of the rest of the collection in its embrasure of eroticism and the realities of the body. As the narrator of the poem searches a poetry collection for queer content he doodles biro boys: “One biro-boy rubs his hard-on against the body of a // sonnet, another bares his hole beside some Larkin.” Richard Scott’s voice is consistently frank, but also mischievous: poetry shouldn’t take itself too seriously. While a poem may express your most authentic self, it’s also perfectly OK to write “COCK” in the margins.
This collection isn’t perfect, but I admire it hugely. Scott’s voice is very impressive: he has a clear command of the language and structure of poetry, playing effectively with line-breaks and run-on sentences to create a sense of urgency and emotion. He is also very aware of the poets who come before him, and that he is part of a long dialogue. His poetry is tapestry of references to other poets: Whitman, Rilke, Verlaine, Sedgwick. This creates a richness and weight. It’s brave to refer to other poets so directly, because the poet always risks being compared unfavourably to them, but Scott’s work can stand up to this kind of scrutiny. It has the weight to ask to be considered alongside poets like Whitman or Verlaine.
The third poem in the collection, Crocodile, is one of my favourites. Told without punctuation, it compares the crocodile to a sexual predator, and, in few lines, manages to capture the confusion of someone who has experienced sexual assault, and the intersections between assault and sexuality.
though I was not the same I
was carrion bleeding into the silt
and didn’t I wear those wounds
well pity me the boy who cried
crocodile I have these moments when I
know I wanted it asked for it even
to be special to be scarred
In these few lines, Scott captures such an onslaught of emotions and confusion, as well as demonstrating his assured use of enjambment to keep the reader enthralled by the story he is telling. I also hugely admired his poem Museum, which is a response to Rilke’s Archaic Torso of Apollo. Both poems describe the beauty of Apollo’s torso, but Scott captures the eroticism of the naked torso, saying
towards the reliquary
of your earth-
scarred sternum I
kiss your chiselled
flesh and find you
warm tasting of
sand and lime
This is also one of many poems in which Scott embraces his identity as a gay man, and the ways in which others in society try to shame him for being who he is. One of the core concerns of this book is queer identity, and the ways in which gay men have been consistently abused and humiliated. Scott refuses to find any of his desires negative or humiliating, but focuses on their eroticism, and the ways in which he finds intimacy, pleasure, and ultimately love. In Museum he response to the last line of Rilke’s poem “You must change your life”, by saying
for the longest
time people told me
I must change my life
but this is my life
this adoration of
men this worship of
those whom the
world has deemed
broken just as
you gave your
body to the earth
so have I given
mine to this [...]
Though Scott does deal with tragic elements of queer history, particularly in his poem “Oh my Soho”, which touches on the history of Soho, and on gay history more generally, his work is also very joyful. He writes about the pleasure of intimacy, the joy of embracing yourself fully, and the delight of sexual pleasure. In his poem [legs straight as you go forward knees] he compares a child on a swing to sleeping with a stranger, capturing the strange wild joy of it as he writes
[...] until you come to a man prostrate
waiting for you and something like vertigo
pushes you onto him inside him and you
move fast and rough like a kid on a swing
This collection could be “confessional” poetry, and Scott deals with this idea directly, particularly the fact that people forget the narrator of a poem is not always the poet. In two poems early in the collectiom, Permissions and Admissions, he talks about people asking whether certain elements of his poems have really happened to him, and implicitly asks the reader whether it matters. If a poem work, and reads authentically, does it matter if it is “true”? What is “the truth” in the context of poetry, anyway?
The section “Verlaine in Soho” didn’t work for me as well as the rest of this collection. It consists of poems that loosely respond to some of Verlaine’s love poems, but I felt the responses were too casual, as though Scott hadn’t truly figured out what he was trying to do. This collection also only deals with the experience of gay men, not of queer people as a whole. Women (and lesbians) are entirely absent. I can forgive Scott this because his work doesn’t try to speak for the whole community: it’s a portrait of one particular aspect of gay culture, gay literature, and Soho specifically. However, in a book that talks about erasure, the complete lack of other kinds of queer culture is notable.
However, Scott’s work constantly felt both refreshing and compelling to me, and I enjoyed it wholly, despite shortcomings. It’s an antidote to collections that feel academic, inaccessible, and are afraid to touch on the realities of the body. Despite Scott’s conscious response to many other poets, his work feel loose and easy to grasp, as well as cheeky and funny: not dry and restrained like some academic poets I can think of. He pulls off a wonderful balancing act by writing both about other queer poets, and creating something that feels new and unique.
This collection isn’t perfect, but I admire it hugely. Scott’s voice is very impressive: he has a clear command of the language and structure of poetry, playing effectively with line-breaks and run-on sentences to create a sense of urgency and emotion. He is also very aware of the poets who come before him, and that he is part of a long dialogue. His poetry is tapestry of references to other poets: Whitman, Rilke, Verlaine, Sedgwick. This creates a richness and weight. It’s brave to refer to other poets so directly, because the poet always risks being compared unfavourably to them, but Scott’s work can stand up to this kind of scrutiny. It has the weight to ask to be considered alongside poets like Whitman or Verlaine.
The third poem in the collection, Crocodile, is one of my favourites. Told without punctuation, it compares the crocodile to a sexual predator, and, in few lines, manages to capture the confusion of someone who has experienced sexual assault, and the intersections between assault and sexuality.
though I was not the same I
was carrion bleeding into the silt
and didn’t I wear those wounds
well pity me the boy who cried
crocodile I have these moments when I
know I wanted it asked for it even
to be special to be scarred
In these few lines, Scott captures such an onslaught of emotions and confusion, as well as demonstrating his assured use of enjambment to keep the reader enthralled by the story he is telling. I also hugely admired his poem Museum, which is a response to Rilke’s Archaic Torso of Apollo. Both poems describe the beauty of Apollo’s torso, but Scott captures the eroticism of the naked torso, saying
towards the reliquary
of your earth-
scarred sternum I
kiss your chiselled
flesh and find you
warm tasting of
sand and lime
This is also one of many poems in which Scott embraces his identity as a gay man, and the ways in which others in society try to shame him for being who he is. One of the core concerns of this book is queer identity, and the ways in which gay men have been consistently abused and humiliated. Scott refuses to find any of his desires negative or humiliating, but focuses on their eroticism, and the ways in which he finds intimacy, pleasure, and ultimately love. In Museum he response to the last line of Rilke’s poem “You must change your life”, by saying
for the longest
time people told me
I must change my life
but this is my life
this adoration of
men this worship of
those whom the
world has deemed
broken just as
you gave your
body to the earth
so have I given
mine to this [...]
Though Scott does deal with tragic elements of queer history, particularly in his poem “Oh my Soho”, which touches on the history of Soho, and on gay history more generally, his work is also very joyful. He writes about the pleasure of intimacy, the joy of embracing yourself fully, and the delight of sexual pleasure. In his poem [legs straight as you go forward knees] he compares a child on a swing to sleeping with a stranger, capturing the strange wild joy of it as he writes
[...] until you come to a man prostrate
waiting for you and something like vertigo
pushes you onto him inside him and you
move fast and rough like a kid on a swing
This collection could be “confessional” poetry, and Scott deals with this idea directly, particularly the fact that people forget the narrator of a poem is not always the poet. In two poems early in the collectiom, Permissions and Admissions, he talks about people asking whether certain elements of his poems have really happened to him, and implicitly asks the reader whether it matters. If a poem work, and reads authentically, does it matter if it is “true”? What is “the truth” in the context of poetry, anyway?
The section “Verlaine in Soho” didn’t work for me as well as the rest of this collection. It consists of poems that loosely respond to some of Verlaine’s love poems, but I felt the responses were too casual, as though Scott hadn’t truly figured out what he was trying to do. This collection also only deals with the experience of gay men, not of queer people as a whole. Women (and lesbians) are entirely absent. I can forgive Scott this because his work doesn’t try to speak for the whole community: it’s a portrait of one particular aspect of gay culture, gay literature, and Soho specifically. However, in a book that talks about erasure, the complete lack of other kinds of queer culture is notable.
However, Scott’s work constantly felt both refreshing and compelling to me, and I enjoyed it wholly, despite shortcomings. It’s an antidote to collections that feel academic, inaccessible, and are afraid to touch on the realities of the body. Despite Scott’s conscious response to many other poets, his work feel loose and easy to grasp, as well as cheeky and funny: not dry and restrained like some academic poets I can think of. He pulls off a wonderful balancing act by writing both about other queer poets, and creating something that feels new and unique.
sabsey's review against another edition
4.0
beneath the vines tell me how to
celebrate myself twenty years of
feeling for body parts in the soil-
scented dark and all I have learned
the opposite of shame is not pride
This one really packed a punch. Favourite poems included:
Public Library, 1998
crocodile
Permissions
Admission
museum
love version of
green
stupid love
the hole
like to go for long walks
heath
the presence of x
today
setraline 50mg
[even if you fuck me all vanilla in]
[you slug me and]
[5am cadaver-slack in my arms]
[are you looking for me in these lines]
[people say shit like <i>it gets better</i>]
[you spit in my mouth and i]
[shame on you faggot for bending whitman to your will co-]
[i am the homosexual you]
Oh My Soho!
celebrate myself twenty years of
feeling for body parts in the soil-
scented dark and all I have learned
the opposite of shame is not pride
This one really packed a punch. Favourite poems included:
Public Library, 1998
crocodile
Permissions
Admission
museum
love version of
green
stupid love
the hole
like to go for long walks
heath
the presence of x
today
setraline 50mg
[even if you fuck me all vanilla in]
[you slug me and]
[5am cadaver-slack in my arms]
[are you looking for me in these lines]
[people say shit like <i>it gets better</i>]
[you spit in my mouth and i]
[shame on you faggot for bending whitman to your will co-]
[i am the homosexual you]
Oh My Soho!
james1star's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I thoroughly enjoyed this poetry collection and would totally recommend it. In Soho, Scott give us 47 poems starting with him in a library and not finding any queer poems so decides to write ‘COCK’ in the margin and culminating in the epic that is ‘Oh My Soho!’ which acts as both a love letter to Soho and a whistle stop tour of queer history in the UK. The sections in the middle include: admission, love poems and shame. Whilst not all entries were to my liking, many were with there being lots of underlined and starred phrases and as a whole I enjoyed it. Scott does talk a lot about sex leading to some thinking him ‘… the homosexual you cannot be proud of’ and whilst it’s maybe too focused on for my personal preference I still understood them, he injects a lot of personality and rawness which is commendable. Furthermore, Scott’s honestly was my favourite part I’d say, it’s hard hitting at times and there were parts I could totally relate to but overall I got a sense of looking to the future while acknowledging our past which was great.
There is a lot to say about each of these poems so I would definitely say to check it out but these are a few of my favourite quotes. (/ means the following section is on another line, … means I’ve skipped sections)
‘When u read how they poured petrol over that man / I see my own death… We are not so different / that poor sod and I…’
- from ‘Reportage’
‘…I want this man my friend to see me / as pure not in any way ruined or touched / dirty a tease a liar an attention seeker…’
- from ‘Admission’
‘…for the longest / time people told me / I must change my life / but this is my life / this adoration of / men this worship of / those whom the / world has deemed / broken…’
- from museum
‘hope what is it be honest with me…’
- from ‘the hole’
‘…you believe in disney films / aurora ariel belle get their prince / I think that’s heteronormative bullshit…’
- from ‘the presence of x’
‘it’s raining in my heart / what does that even mean and / why am I so sad / all the fucking time… how come my head’s a cloud and / my heart’s a puddle…’
- from ‘sertraline 50 mg’ (loved this poem!!)
‘… it’s still not regular intercourse… it’s still an act of protest… it’s all still a middle finger up… we are still dangerous faggots’
- from ‘[even if you fuck me all vanilla in]’
‘…none of us have ever known what we’re doing / homos each one of us as opaque as rose / quartz I am so lost’
- from ‘[5am cadaver-slack in my arms]’
‘people say shit like it gets better / but what they mean is there’ll always be haters / only you’ll be older’ and ‘the world has given you… love I mean shame’
- from ‘[people say shit like it gets better]’
‘…in the deepest offal-shadowed parts of myself I feel the / thought of myself / free from shame but made from shame’ and ‘…shame is your gift from the world to the / world that fucked still fucks you’
- from ‘[shame on you faggot for bending whitman to your own will co-]’
‘…We’re a people robbed of / ancestors - they were stolen, hooded, from us…’ and ‘…how did our gorgeous species survive the Parliamentarian’s / drug-embargoing / slaughter? The proxy-diagnose? The segregated blood-drives? / the censored sex-ed classes? The NHS’s test and detain orders? / The government’s waning funds? The GP’s apathy? Ignorance’ and ‘…spin me back to your parades, your protests, your pride - / when a rainbow flag was a sigil and a cocktail was flaming! / Oh my Soho, / was there ever an invulnerable queer body?’
- from ‘Oh my Soho!’
There is a lot to say about each of these poems so I would definitely say to check it out but these are a few of my favourite quotes. (/ means the following section is on another line, … means I’ve skipped sections)
‘When u read how they poured petrol over that man / I see my own death… We are not so different / that poor sod and I…’
- from ‘Reportage’
‘…I want this man my friend to see me / as pure not in any way ruined or touched / dirty a tease a liar an attention seeker…’
- from ‘Admission’
‘…for the longest / time people told me / I must change my life / but this is my life / this adoration of / men this worship of / those whom the / world has deemed / broken…’
- from museum
‘hope what is it be honest with me…’
- from ‘the hole’
‘…you believe in disney films / aurora ariel belle get their prince / I think that’s heteronormative bullshit…’
- from ‘the presence of x’
‘it’s raining in my heart / what does that even mean and / why am I so sad / all the fucking time… how come my head’s a cloud and / my heart’s a puddle…’
- from ‘sertraline 50 mg’ (loved this poem!!)
‘… it’s still not regular intercourse… it’s still an act of protest… it’s all still a middle finger up… we are still dangerous faggots’
- from ‘[even if you fuck me all vanilla in]’
‘…none of us have ever known what we’re doing / homos each one of us as opaque as rose / quartz I am so lost’
- from ‘[5am cadaver-slack in my arms]’
‘people say shit like it gets better / but what they mean is there’ll always be haters / only you’ll be older’ and ‘the world has given you… love I mean shame’
- from ‘[people say shit like it gets better]’
‘…in the deepest offal-shadowed parts of myself I feel the / thought of myself / free from shame but made from shame’ and ‘…shame is your gift from the world to the / world that fucked still fucks you’
- from ‘[shame on you faggot for bending whitman to your own will co-]’
‘…We’re a people robbed of / ancestors - they were stolen, hooded, from us…’ and ‘…how did our gorgeous species survive the Parliamentarian’s / drug-embargoing / slaughter? The proxy-diagnose? The segregated blood-drives? / the censored sex-ed classes? The NHS’s test and detain orders? / The government’s waning funds? The GP’s apathy? Ignorance’ and ‘…spin me back to your parades, your protests, your pride - / when a rainbow flag was a sigil and a cocktail was flaming! / Oh my Soho, / was there ever an invulnerable queer body?’
- from ‘Oh my Soho!’
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Mental illness, Rape, Homophobia, Hate crime, and Sexual assault
curiouscat17's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
grey_reads_books's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5