Pig / sam sax / 2023
Queer Jewish literary darling delivers a thoughtful collection about pigs, where standout poems include an ode to Miss Piggy, pig drag, and an anti-Zionist abcedarian. It made me aware of a particular trope in gay poetry, where the speaker expresses disgust with his/their own sexual history, particularly their abundance of sexual partners, which felt very vulnerable and moving when I first encountered it in graduate school and now feels commonplace. I read it in one sitting easily, and while I would hit replay on a number of these poems over and over to linger on their tension and crescendo, I cannot say they demand or accomplish anything extraordinary. I felt like this was a book I could write, perhaps, playful, at times touching and invigorating, always direct and open. Let's call this a 3.5 out of 5, even if that plunges my poetry book ratings this year.