David Hatfield Sparks

I was excited to read this after reading the synapsis. However i was not prepared at how beautiful and touching this collection would be. The author has a very eloquent and beautiful way of framing words and experiences in ways we can all relate to in some way, even something we have not experienced. It may be that his gift of words is just so beautiful if we cannot relate we can feel the beauty and depth of his emotions through the beauty of his words. While reading this collection of poems there was one that stood out to me. It was called "To mariah from her faggot father". After reading it i had to put the book down and think about it for a few minutes. I don't know if the author has a daughter and this is a small glimpse into his world or if its inspired by another but it is a beautiful building of words and emotions. I don't have the gift this author has for words but his book touched me and i will be following and keeping an eye out for any other works he will be releasing. I highly recommend this to anyone,poetry reader or not. I don't see how anyone could read this and not be moved. It truly is a beautiful collection from someone i suspect has a beautiful and eloquent view of the world.… (mehr)

The poems of David Hatfield Sparks resonate with the rise of the postmodern, multicultural, LGBTQ and feminist political and spiritual movements. Inspired by Walt Whitman, H.D., Jack Spicer, Robert Duncan, Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, and his close friend Gloria Anzaldúa, and drawing upon ancient and indigenous mythologies and spiritualities, together with magical practices, a passion for Nature, and a delight in Camp, Sparks seeks to trace the multilayered, multidimensional, at times nostalgic, at times wild and defiant, spiritual journey of a Queer mystic. The poems in this collection follow a dream-like chronology of responses to events in his life and in the lives of others he has known. Not ignoring the shadows, he acknowledges the suffering inflicted by those men and women who have condemned Queer identity and practices, such as his parenting of his daughter Mariah. By means of a revolutionary spirituality, he is determined to transform suffering into liberation and enlightenment. The poems are organized into three sections. Those of the first section, "Prequel," are drawn from the pre-Stonewall, bohemian, struggling life of a married "hippie" that culminates in the birth of a magical child. The second section, "Personas," delves into the complexities of what Sparks calls "gay being and becoming" that includes the construction, dismantling, and reconstruction of the many masks and identities gay/Queer men have worn and inhabit: sissy, artist, monk, trickster, rebel. This theme continues in the third section, "Parables," but herein the poet excavates language and images from deeper psychic levels in a profound spiritual exploration, mirroring Rich's "Diving into the Wreck," that confronts and reinvents religious Queer-relevant symbols and myths in the forms of elegies, dirges, ritual dramas and chants, in an intoxicating brew that delights.… (mehr)