hunting the bugs
Bateau Press’s 2023/2024 BOOM Chapbook Contest Winner
It’s rare to find a book at once as outwardly expansive and as inwardly probing as Jack Giaour’s hunting the bugs. In “manna,” the stunning opening suite, a character’s ears are described as “infinite”—one could describe Giaour’s ear the same way. His chorus of voices weaves together public and private histories in syntax so sharp and deft it unsettles. He renders queer desire with all the historical weight, narrative drive, and painterly precision of a 21st century C.P. Cavafy, with an eye for detail so exacting, so novelistic, an entire life might teem inside a small gesture. hunting the bugs is a blistering debut, a poetry of range, depth, confrontation, and yes, brilliance.
JD Debris, author of The Scorpion’s Question Mark
Stories that Need to be Told 2023 Anthology
I’m honored to be included in Tulip Tree’s ninth annual collection of contest winners.
Happy Little Poetry Comix
Released as a chapbook by the incredibly talented Ryan Valentine (whose work can be found online as “Poetry Comix”), this little book features Ryan’s take on a handful of classic Bob Ross paintings. Each painting features a poetic response, and I was honored to be asked to be part of the project.
Jack Giaour’s hunting the bugs is a true search of our inner and outer selves. The path is through time and space, as seen through and by an assortment of both typical and marginalized characters. The author does not romanticize them or indulge them, while still allowing us to care about them. We cannot help but be fascinated by the candor and intimacy of these carefully crafted, quirky, and eccentric characters.
Dave Somerset