Stop Lying

by Aaron Smith

Stop Lying  is Aaron Smith’s most personal and vulnerable work yet. Revolving around the death of Smith’s mother and how the poet, a gay man, faces his upbringing where his sexuality was viewed as sinful and unnatural, these poems plumb the complexities of what families say and choose not to say. How does one grieve when a relationship will forever remain unresolved? What does it mean to both regret and not regret one’s decisions? What if survival doesn’t look like what we're told it should? This is the story of a poet pushing through present-day grief and the shame of the past to find the buried truths, the ones that are hardest to tell.  

Genres: Poetry, LGBT

108 pages, Paperback

Published January 31, 2023

About the author

Aaron Smith is the author of five books of poetry published by the Pitt Poetry Series. His collections include Blue on Blue Ground (2005), winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Prize; Appetite (2012), an NPR Great Read and finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize; Primer (2016), a Poetry Must Read for the Massachusetts Center for the Book; The Book of Daniel (2019); and Stop Lying (2023). His chapbooks include Men in Groups and What’s Required, winner of the Frank O’Hara Award. A three-time finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, he is the recipient of fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts and the Mass Cultural Council, and his work has appeared in such publications as Court Green, Ploughshares, and The Best American Poetry 2013. He has taught at West Virginia Wesleyan and is currently Associate Professor in Creative Writing at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.

Reviews

[O]

Just read this in one sitting. I couldn’t put it down.

[Ace Boggess · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite kind of poetry collection: one where the narrator and poet are indistinguishable and the poems have such a deeply personal aspect that they rip straight into the reader's gut. In this book, focused mostly on a mother's death, the poems dance between love and anger over the mother's contempt for the narrator's sexuality. The words are sometimes harsh, but always deeply moving. A fantastic collection from a poet that should be read more widely.

[Marisa Ybarra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you pick up random things at the library because it’s on the display shelf and it turns out to be tragically beautiful.

[Elizabeth Sanders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful poems about grief and complicated relationship with family and self; cried while reading

[g · Rating 4 out of 5]

first book of poems, I think. great introduction, loved them all. read for class

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good. Sad.

[Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not going to be okay when my family dies. I am going to be a mess. I hope it's far off but who can really know? It may be the first hard thing that's ever happened to me.