Temptations for a Juvenile Delinquent

Allison Sivak is a librarian in the Science and Technology Library at
the University of Alberta.

This collection of poems by playwright Sky Gilbert is funny, fast-paced,
and often cheeky. Gilbert’s subject matter is openly queer, and he
takes an irreverent approach to many of his poems, satirizing British
manners, advice columns, and homophobic landladies. His sarcasm can be
tempered with a surprising empathy for his subjects, however; take, for
example, “The Book Women,” a poem that starts out laughing at the
assumptions of a middle-aged female audience, who assume that because a
writer is gay that he must be more sensitive than heterosexual male
writers. Gilbert takes clear satisfaction in turning this idea on its
head, expressing his distaste for more middlebrow gay writers and
mocking the women’s attempts at dressing “bohemian” (ponchos,
caftans, and wearing pussywillows in their hair). By the end, Gilbert
states, “… because inside, we are all Book Women / and though some
of us may have larger breasts / or more colourful ponchos / we are all
in danger of going mad / Ophelia-like / our hair stuffed with
pussywillows / our heavy caftans weighing us down.”

The author has also included a number of tender love poems presenting
the relationship between two men, one older and one younger. He
highlights the wonder of love found by a man who fears aging and his
beautiful lover: “I will take

you in my lame old arms / and hug their lechery away / because with such
hugging / my own lechery becomes lechery no more / suddenly it’s
love.”

Gilbert makes some use of extended metaphor, but for the most part
follows straightforward narrative for his poems, using conversational
language and a rapid pace. His theatre background is evident in the
book; reading these poems, I believe many of them to be more effective
spoken, rather than read. His line breaks are often awkward, with
stilted rhythm, and his imagery often feels “inserted” into the
poem, rather than as an integral part of it. Gilbert has little concern
with artifice, and is at his best in poems that seek to be less
“poetic.” In all, Gilbert’s poems seek to shock, to amuse, and
above all, to speak honestly.