Aidan Chafe's Gospel Drunk is a personal journey to find clarity and identity in the face of alcoholism and religion. Sharp, intoxicating imagery and a gutsy, minimalist aesthetic combine in these poems to explore some of our darkest and strongest belief systems, dismantling them with wit and wisdom. An impressive mix of tightly-crafted lyric and prose poetry touch on content that ranges from poignant boyhood memories of hockey coaches as "dragons in suits" to critiques of what the poet calls "the broken bicycle of recovery." A child's fingers interlace to form a gun during mass, Hulk attends an AA meeting, and God creates sound "as a blunt object." Chafe's own struggle with loneliness and alcohol addiction gave life to these poems, along with his search for identity as a young man growing up in a Catholic household. Unflinchingly honest in its interrogation of religious dogma, white privilege, and violence, Gospel Drunk is for all who seek salvation and humanity in a world where the personal and the political are equally complicated.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: University of Alberta Press
Published: 03/15/2021
ISBN: 9781772125467
Pages: 88