BLAMEFOREST

Debut author Stocks’ poems address issues of poverty, masculinity, identity, and more.

In the poem “Fair Play,” the Arkansas-born, Mississippi-raised author describes boxing with a reverence that’s reminiscent of Ernest Hemingway’s attitude toward Spanish bullfighting, making the violent sport seem almost ennobling: “It’s exciting to see men fall in the ring, after giving their all, instead of on battlefields, or murdered in the streets without a choice.” Indeed, the collection is replete with images referencing violence and desperation: “We kill each other over parking spaces / Shoot-up schools, malls, churches / ’cause our little feelings get hurt,” the speaker of “The Emerald City” says in despair, knowing that “Fury runs deep for no real reason” in him and many of his peers. Each poem is written with an almost brutal honesty and directness, exploring such topics as yearning to be a professional football player, being a victim of a stabbing, and coming to terms with an impoverished upbringing in ways that don’t feel confined to the South; when a speaker affirms in “Conjecture” that “Boys grow up to be bastards. Ruthless amnesiacs, / more snaggletoothed and snarling / than any starving beast (indoctrinated into the system),” he could be talking about people anywhere in America. Stocks’ writing has a powerful immediacy, and his poems are packed with both profanity and pop-culture references, as when a speaker notes his aspiration to “feel like Elvis Presley, Marilyn Manson & Judas Priest during their peak touring years.” Occasionally, the language can feel problematic—especially speakers’ occasional use of the N-word. Its apparent aim is to capture the complex rhythms of how his characters talk, think, and feel and to challenge the reader to sort it all out themselves.

Provocative, explicit poetry written with muscular swagger.