Vasectomania

by Matthew Guenette

Lee Ann Roripaugh called American Busboy a "wry anti-mythology" where an "anti-hero busboy in an anonymous Clam Shack! tangles with the monotonous delirium of work, the indignities and poor pay of unskilled labor [and] the capricious deus ex machina of mean-spirited middle management." We might call Vasectomania the busboy fast-forwarded 20 years, a little bit wiser and tangling now with the monotonous delirium of parenting, tangling with the indignities of flailing (and often failing) as a father and partner and dealing with his own social-cultural traditions of being raised in a blue-collar town by a single mother whose voice seems to haunt his every move.

Genres: Poetry

64 pages, Paperback

Published September 29, 2017

Reviews

[Teagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I originally heard Matthew Guenette do a reading of some of these poems at my university which immediately caused me to buy the collection. These poems are wickedly funny, a little crude at times, but truthful to the core- the perfect balance. I’m excited to see what works Guenette publishes next!

[Brianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though published in 2017, the domesticity and some of the cabin fever remind me of the global panorama. The worldwide Padme Amidala. I love the line, “Then they kicked Pluto out like an old pair of shoes.”