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notlikethebeer's review against another edition
3.0
I have quite mixed feelings about this book I think!
The Letter I is a poetry collection by Dennis Rhodes (his third I believe), a HIV+ gay man who lived through the New York HIV/AIDs crisis of the late 1900s. Now approaching middle age, Rhodes uses poetry to look at his experiences both past and present.
Thematically, I was really excited to read this. I find everything relating to the late 1900s HIV/AIDs epidemic really intriguing, especially LGBTQ+ autobiographical accounts. What particularly interested me about this collection was that it comes from a place of hindsight, looking back from a different world, from someone who has both grown and moved on, but who also remains intrinsically rooted in that time in some ways. This is the vibe I got, anyway, that Rhodes is living his life, but is still deeply affected by his previous experiences, the people he loved and lost, and the impact it still has on him today. Lots of the poems made me think about things I would never have thought of before, which I really appreciated, and I found looking through his eyes so so valuable.
At the same time, I definitely disagree with him on some major things- Rhodes does imply quite heavily that the world is a much better place to be LGBTQ+ now, which to me seems like a very privileged viewpoint, and one that classes 'different' as 'better'. To a degree, I appreciated being able to see how/why he feels this way, given his prism of experience. At the same time, however, he does come across as quite ignorant (again, privileged in his own way), which frustrated me. There are also some phrases that jarred me and seemed somewhat racist or fetishising?
In regards to the style and language as an instrument, I again felt mixed. Some of the form I adored, some I didn't- but that's a personal thing I think, and completely fair that not everything is going to be everyone's cup of tea.
I'm eager to read the previous collections by Rhodes, to compare and contrast; this has also made me even more keen to seek out other voices talking about their experiences of the late 1900s as LGBTQ+ people and as HIV+ people.
The Letter I is a poetry collection by Dennis Rhodes (his third I believe), a HIV+ gay man who lived through the New York HIV/AIDs crisis of the late 1900s. Now approaching middle age, Rhodes uses poetry to look at his experiences both past and present.
Thematically, I was really excited to read this. I find everything relating to the late 1900s HIV/AIDs epidemic really intriguing, especially LGBTQ+ autobiographical accounts. What particularly interested me about this collection was that it comes from a place of hindsight, looking back from a different world, from someone who has both grown and moved on, but who also remains intrinsically rooted in that time in some ways. This is the vibe I got, anyway, that Rhodes is living his life, but is still deeply affected by his previous experiences, the people he loved and lost, and the impact it still has on him today. Lots of the poems made me think about things I would never have thought of before, which I really appreciated, and I found looking through his eyes so so valuable.
At the same time, I definitely disagree with him on some major things- Rhodes does imply quite heavily that the world is a much better place to be LGBTQ+ now, which to me seems like a very privileged viewpoint, and one that classes 'different' as 'better'. To a degree, I appreciated being able to see how/why he feels this way, given his prism of experience. At the same time, however, he does come across as quite ignorant (again, privileged in his own way), which frustrated me. There are also some phrases that jarred me and seemed somewhat racist or fetishising?
In regards to the style and language as an instrument, I again felt mixed. Some of the form I adored, some I didn't- but that's a personal thing I think, and completely fair that not everything is going to be everyone's cup of tea.
I'm eager to read the previous collections by Rhodes, to compare and contrast; this has also made me even more keen to seek out other voices talking about their experiences of the late 1900s as LGBTQ+ people and as HIV+ people.
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