Some men love each other. For others, love of something else gets between them. Padraig O Tuama’s Love Between Men begins in the garden of Eden, recasting Adam, Eve, and God into voices both abrasive and intimate. Then, in seven deadly sonnets, the poet details his own experiences of exorcisms and gay reparative therapies, exploring desire with its promise and fear of fulfillment. These poems by turns, intelligent, funny, devastating, and explosive – consider time, the edges of empire, and the limits of the tongue. Here is rage paired with prayer, in punked up forms and broken sequences. Love Between Men celebrates and challenges love: of history, poetry, and language – and ultimately, of change. ‘There is something eternal but also completely now about this collection. It is sacred and profane: a benediction, a spell and a curse all in one’ – Damien Barr
