Queerfella by Simon Maddrell
Free delivery to Isle of Man addresses for orders over £20, use code MANXSHIP at checkout.
Winner of The Rialto Pamphlet Competition
See also, "Throatbone" by Simon Maddrell HERE
Simon Maddrell is a queer born Manx man, thriving with HIV. Brought up in Bolton, Lancashire, he recently moved to Brighton and Hove after 20 years in London. His debut pamphlet Throatbone was published by UnCollected Press (2020). He describes Queerfella as a ‘journey from shame to unashamed’.
Wire bound pamphlet, 36pp including cover.
"There’s a real consistency of voice throughout and an indomitable sense of the poet facing up to their chosen subject matter; ‘no wonder we escape bodies that sink /
or encage ourselves in sewered shame’. ‘There was a hole’ and ‘Alright really’ are deceptively simple poems – and all the more powerful for it – which make use of a fine storytelling gift. ‘I am not straight’ is a particularly good example of a very tender form of directness. ‘Life imitates porn’ has an extraordinary final couplet: ‘the cum face is fake / & the dicks are on drugs’. Great variety and play, e.g. the ‘demi-ekphrastic poem’ ‘Cock & Balls’. The last two poems, ‘Three Crows’ and ‘Half-rotten, Half-new’ – both in part about fathers and forgiveness – are stunning: open, redemptive, beautiful." Will Harris.