Nefarious by Emanuel Xavier

by Emanuel Xavier

With heartfelt honesty, Emanuel Xavier's fourth full-length poetry collection Nefarious welcomes the reader into the later second act of a former underage prostitute. This book captures insights into his private relationships, heartbreaks, life as a spoken word artist, time spent with his cat, aging. With a dose of dark humor, Xavier's pleasure in the written word and his passion makes this an engaging collection.

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Emanuel Xavier helped open the doors for queer poets of color to take centerstage and speak their truths. Without so much as passion and perseverance, he became an LGBTQ+ Icon, as proclaimed by The Equality Forum. Long before diversity, equity, and inclusion were buzz words, he gave voice to his unique experiences and tackled politics, sexuality, and religion with poetry books like Pier Queen, Americano, If Jesus Were Gay, Nefarious and Radiance. Following up on his Kirkus Best Indie Poetry Collections of 2021 book, Selected Poems of Emanuel Xavier, returned to his exploration of Latinx and LGBTQ+ culture, community, and identity with Love(ly) Child (Rebel Satori Press, Fall 2023), shortlisted for a 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry.

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Xavier's ability to tell a story is fantastic, but his ability to open up and tell that story from his heart is what makes this collection phenomenal. At times, you feel nothing but sympathetic for Xavier, although you know that he will come out winning. The stories/poems in this collection are open, brutally honest, thought provoking, and captivating all at the same time. Xavier's humbleness, appreciation of all the small things, and his ability to forgive, or at least understand, his wrongdoers is remarkable. His warm soul shines through and reaches out to the reader on every page. Nefarious is a must read... poetry fan, or not.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 rounded up. I think I would’ve liked this better if not for the middle poem which was 21 parts and felt like it dragged on compared to everything else (also used the t word twice which was rather unfortunate)

[Aaron Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helped me discover more of Emanuel and who he is a writer, thinker, pioneered out of the obscurity of abuse. He touches on some personal but important topics that are no longer considered forbidden in the everyday conversation.

[willowdog · Rating 4 out of 5]

Using his life as the subject, Xavier reflects on the past as well as his present state, looking at love, sex, family, writing, and life.