Soundtrack: A Lyric Memoir

by Michael V. Smith

Is a song enough to hold all the truths we cannot bear without it? From award-winning writer Michael V. Smith comes a poetic memoir about growing up gay in the shadow of AIDS. Embodying an elusive part of queer history, these song and album-inspired pieces capture the last three decades of the millenium and reveal how music has an uncanny ability to remind us not just where we were at a given moment in time but who we were. With his signature humour and tenderness, and guided by the music of the era, Smith catalogues social prejudices, court rulings, and medical breakthroughs, alongside personal devastations, triumphs, and the search for community. From a first crush toting a Michael Jackson Thriller cassette, to falling in love to the music of Jane Siberry, to dancing at a gay bar to "Groove is in the Heart," Soundtrack is a moving personal record of a man who survived the lost generation and a vital document of queer joy.

Genres: Poetry, Memoir, Canadian Literature

212 pages, Paperback

Published September 30, 2025

About the author

Michael V. Smith is a writer, comedian, filmmaker, performance artist and occasional clown.
He also is professor creative writing at the University of British Columbia.

Reviews

[Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life Is a Soundtrack

How did the book make me feel/think?

Bear with me for a moment.

When Gail dumped me, I made a video of myself reciting a love poem to Extreme’s “More Than Words.”

Too much information?

Probably.

Life is a soundtrack. The milestones—the darts from life that stick—are often pierced by music.

Life. Death. Romance. Family. Heartache.

Michael may be a queer writer—I’m sure he’d like me to remove the “may” from that sentence—but his writing crosses boundaries. It’s visceral. Important. It speaks volumes about what it’s like to live in a world full of labels, and how hard life is to navigate when so many people are trapped inside a forced narrative of what is bleeping normal.

Michael may be a poet; his words transcend genre. They sing off the pages, connecting us and shedding light on what it means to be human in a world where most people judge—often without understanding the plight of others—those of us who want the same thing: love, happiness, and a song to dance to.

Michael V. Smith is one of my favourite authors, offering vision through lyrical prose.
​
WRITTEN: 14 December 2025

[Connor Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful story of queer history (and Micheals history) dating back the 80s. As aids slowly, then quickly, took over the news, fears, and sadly took friends lives. A reminder of those lost, some seemingly quickly, others slowly.
This reminder is given through a story of music, songs and singers that act as an understanding of the times, who there was to look up too. Songs that connected in a way to make a young queer feel the fleeting moments of joy.

[PAUL · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael V. Smith is 13 years younger than I am, which is a significant amount of time when one is concerned with popular music and growing up. I greatly enjoyed reading this book of poetry, even though I often felt that I was looking at it from the outside, rather than participating in the world he captures.

[A Longoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully captures millennial coming-of-age life. Even to this American the themes are tragically relatable. Spare free verse poignantly archives Smith’s complex gay life that is one filled with meaning and community. Listen to the publisher’s Spotify playlist for an added dimension to your encounter of this essential work in Queer poetry.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

see my note on Substack: amandaearl.substack.com. this is an excellent and important read