hunting the bugs Out Now

“Reading Hunting the Bugs, you recognize at once the poet’s mastery of language along with emotions and narratives so raw they might have been plucked out of your own heart. It’s hard to believe this is a first chapbook from Jack Giaour, whose confident talent and sensibilities seem those of a poet long established. There are plenty of collections where the poetics get in the way of poetry, but in Hunting the Bugs—unique in line, tone, and form—the craft only enhances its resonance. From war and violence to transgender/queer identity and sexuality, Giaour strikes a chord you’ll be hearing long after you put him down..”

— M.P. Carver

“In Giaour’s poems, confronting violence is confronting masculinity. No matter the time or place, the men in these poems all experience violence as intrinsic to their experience of masculinity. Sometimes, the violence is anticipated, such as a war zone, and sometimes the violence is as natural as a mosquito in September. Always, the men ask “how long can i survive/on such an edge as this?”

— Catherine Fahey