The Gutter Spread Guide to Prayer
PsychiatristAsianAmericanGayGuy wields a wickedsharp wordweapon to explore the dailyplate of complexity handed to him. This debut collection earned Eric Tran the Autumn House Rising Writers Prize in 2019.
My Mother Asks How I Was Gay
before Sleeping with a Man
She says I’ve taught you this before: press the skin
of pears to your nose to sense if they’re ripe,
Sound out foreign words, spring-load them on your lips
before flicking them off your tongue. Measure drinks
with your fingers, test gold with your teeth. Do you trust
the strength of ice with the weight of one toe,
the day’s weather without throwing yourself into it,
the spice of a pepper by biting the tip? Son,
the world is not known by its surfaces alone.
When you cut new flowers, split their stems
like a giant vein, teach them to drink water again.
I warned you once not to touch fire-red coils,
but you had to reach out your hand, palm the heat,
hold the fire in your fist to learn how to be afraid.
Reviewed by
Matt Sutherland
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
