In four extended sequences, The First Risk confronts the murder of Matthew Shepard and the myth of Venus and Adonis through the eyes of Italian Ren...
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Jan 09, 2010
Sean
rated it: 
I don't remember finding out about Matthew Shepard's slaying. I was seventeen when it happened, a self-hating closeted gay Mormon, halfway through my first semester at Brigham Young University. Did I think he deserved it, the way I thought gays deserved to die of AIDS for their sins? I hope not, but I'm afraid to remember too well.
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I am the failure of the body to remain a boy,
I am the remains of a boy, the body of his failure. ("I Am the Boy Who Is Tied Down", p. 7)
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Jun 01, 2010
Craig
rated it: 
I absolutely loved this collection.
That said, the early section dealing with the death of Matthew Shepard did throw me a little bit. Having lived in Laramie at the time and being close to the situation, there were a couple of factual mis-steps, I felt. I had to come to the realization that (this section - as well as a lot of) poetry is more concerned with the statement over the truth. Once I let things go, it was easier to meet the poet on their own ground and really appreciate wh More...
That said, the early section dealing with the death of Matthew Shepard did throw me a little bit. Having lived in Laramie at the time and being close to the situation, there were a couple of factual mis-steps, I felt. I had to come to the realization that (this section - as well as a lot of) poetry is more concerned with the statement over the truth. Once I let things go, it was easier to meet the poet on their own ground and really appreciate wh More...
Feb 04, 2010
Caroline
rated it:
Beautiful poems; beautifully arranged and constructed collection--divided into 4 sections with different subject matter, so to speak, but all share the same concerns (self (re)construction). It's no accident that the cover image is a partial person.
If I had to choose a favorite poem, I'd say "I am the boy who is tied down." Eerily calm, incantatory statements shoved inside an unspeakably heartbreaking catastrophe:
"I am the boy who is tied down.
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If I had to choose a favorite poem, I'd say "I am the boy who is tied down." Eerily calm, incantatory statements shoved inside an unspeakably heartbreaking catastrophe:
"I am the boy who is tied down.
More...
Feb 21, 2010
Grady
rated it:
Oh, What A Wondrous Ride!
Charles Jensen is a poet/writer/seer/film fiend/mythology aficionado who somehow marries all of these seemingly disparate aspects of his mind into some of the most exciting work being written today. To this point his creativity has been available by chapbook (it feels as though he is concerned about the transience of this form, so dependent on returning to a printed page is his writing as this first printed/published collection suggests). His commi More...
Charles Jensen is a poet/writer/seer/film fiend/mythology aficionado who somehow marries all of these seemingly disparate aspects of his mind into some of the most exciting work being written today. To this point his creativity has been available by chapbook (it feels as though he is concerned about the transience of this form, so dependent on returning to a printed page is his writing as this first printed/published collection suggests). His commi More...
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