What do you think?
Rate this book
Selected Poems
This short eBook includes the gay love poem “Home,” the strange story of “The Gardener,” and the comical “Angels and Razors,” as well as thirty other poems. These works also appear in Duane Simolke’s longer anthology Holding Me Together: Essays and Poems.
Complete list of poems in this book: Chasing Seagulls, Home, Album, Children in the Streets, The Gardener, Friday Afternoon Spectrum, Reception, second year, Angels and Razors, Separated, Faces, Songs In Sign Language, Forgotten, Higher Education, Family, Ex-Gay? Part I: Cocoon, Ex-Gay? Part II: The Ex-Me Movement, Ex-Gay? Part III: Who Does God Hate?, The Escape Artist, Daughter, The Same Lips, Pharisee, Anne Bradstreet, Bareback, Cycle, Cross, Two Rapes, Rainbow, Elephant On An Opera Stage, Detour, Editing, Process, Haiku.
Keywords: Gay pride, Gay romance, Gay men, Gay poem, Gay poems, Gay poetry, Gay poets, Gay writers, Love poems, Story poems, Humor, Homophobia, Exgay, Ex-gay, Diversity, Poetry, American poets, Lubbock poets, Texas poets
Complete list of poems in this book: Chasing Seagulls, Home, Album, Children in the Streets, The Gardener, Friday Afternoon Spectrum, Reception, second year, Angels and Razors, Separated, Faces, Songs In Sign Language, Forgotten, Higher Education, Family, Ex-Gay? Part I: Cocoon, Ex-Gay? Part II: The Ex-Me Movement, Ex-Gay? Part III: Who Does God Hate?, The Escape Artist, Daughter, The Same Lips, Pharisee, Anne Bradstreet, Bareback, Cycle, Cross, Two Rapes, Rainbow, Elephant On An Opera Stage, Detour, Editing, Process, Haiku.
Keywords: Gay pride, Gay romance, Gay men, Gay poem, Gay poems, Gay poetry, Gay poets, Gay writers, Love poems, Story poems, Humor, Homophobia, Exgay, Ex-gay, Diversity, Poetry, American poets, Lubbock poets, Texas poets
- GenresPoetry
72 pages
First published May 7, 2010
1 person is currently reading
5 people want to read
About the author
Duane Simolke
11 books85 followersDuane Simolke wrote The Acorn Stories, Degranon: A Science Fiction Adventure, Sons of Taldra: A Science Fiction Adventure, Holding Me Together, and New Readings of Winesburg, Ohio. He co-wrote The Return of Innocence: A Fantasy Adventure and The Acorn Gathering: Writers Uniting Against Cancer. Simolke lives in Lubbock, Texas.
Writing published in nightFire, Mesquite, Caprock Sun, Midwest Poetry Review, International Journal on World Peace, and many other publications.
Writing published in nightFire, Mesquite, Caprock Sun, Midwest Poetry Review, International Journal on World Peace, and many other publications.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 13, 2018
‘I thought changing my life was like picking out furniture. You tell me to send out for dry-clean soul service.‘
Texas author/poet Duane Simolke earned his three advancing English degrees from Belmont University in Nashville, Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, and Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX. He has published seven books in varying genres and has had articles/poems published in nightFire, Mesquite, Caprock Sun, Midwest Poetry Review, International Journal on World Peace, among others. His awards include Winner, Allbooks Reviewers Choice Award and four StoneWall Society Pride in the Arts Awards.
Having just read THE ACORN STORIES this reader was drawn to the poetry of this important literary artist. The poems are rich in content and delicate in substance, and the fact that Duane is able to render gay poems so well places him in a rarified atmosphere that is better quote by sharing his work than by impotently attempting to describe them.
Home
When I lie beside him,
His knee presses
Against the underside
Of my knee,
His hand presses
Against my chest,
As if holding me together.
If I wake,
And he isn’t beside me,
I’ll curl up
Like a frightened child,
Lost in the dark,
Afraid to move.
If I wake,
And he isn’t beside me,
The thickest blanket
Won’t keep me warm
But I wake,
And find him
Beside me.
He holds me together.
Songs In Sign Language
With hymns in hands,
You address us,
The deaf members
Of the congregation.
We cannot consume
All the sounds of the choir,
Though some of us
Hear certain notes.
Your lips move,
But I hear no sound,
As if you sing to us
From behind a window.
What makes your hands
Get caught in the stars,
The brook, and the breeze?
What makes you want
To sign these words to us?
Hands move,
Fingers twirling,
Waving.
Fists close,
Touch your heart,
Then open
And reach outward.
Keep your hands still
If you need to rest.
Your smile interprets
Every word of every song.
A poet sings and we are the fortunate audience. Highly Recommended
Texas author/poet Duane Simolke earned his three advancing English degrees from Belmont University in Nashville, Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, and Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX. He has published seven books in varying genres and has had articles/poems published in nightFire, Mesquite, Caprock Sun, Midwest Poetry Review, International Journal on World Peace, among others. His awards include Winner, Allbooks Reviewers Choice Award and four StoneWall Society Pride in the Arts Awards.
Having just read THE ACORN STORIES this reader was drawn to the poetry of this important literary artist. The poems are rich in content and delicate in substance, and the fact that Duane is able to render gay poems so well places him in a rarified atmosphere that is better quote by sharing his work than by impotently attempting to describe them.
Home
When I lie beside him,
His knee presses
Against the underside
Of my knee,
His hand presses
Against my chest,
As if holding me together.
If I wake,
And he isn’t beside me,
I’ll curl up
Like a frightened child,
Lost in the dark,
Afraid to move.
If I wake,
And he isn’t beside me,
The thickest blanket
Won’t keep me warm
But I wake,
And find him
Beside me.
He holds me together.
Songs In Sign Language
With hymns in hands,
You address us,
The deaf members
Of the congregation.
We cannot consume
All the sounds of the choir,
Though some of us
Hear certain notes.
Your lips move,
But I hear no sound,
As if you sing to us
From behind a window.
What makes your hands
Get caught in the stars,
The brook, and the breeze?
What makes you want
To sign these words to us?
Hands move,
Fingers twirling,
Waving.
Fists close,
Touch your heart,
Then open
And reach outward.
Keep your hands still
If you need to rest.
Your smile interprets
Every word of every song.
A poet sings and we are the fortunate audience. Highly Recommended
Displaying 1 of 1 review