deciduous qween

“Fashioned with the eye of a painter, the hand of sculptor, the ear of a composer, and the heart of an ecopoet, Matty Layne Glasgow’s deciduous qween is a stunning and original debut collection. These poems bend and twist language to refashion bayous and prairies, drag queens and jazz greats, aspens and seahorses, Texas and Chechnya into a striking mélange of tropes that recontextualize the human condition in all its pervasive grief and prophetic triumph.”

“The Texas of Matty Layne Glasgow’s deciduous qween is big, teased out, and sequined, but it is also parched, prickly with violence and grief, and fire-gutted, its aspens “all char-soaked & done up with ash.” In poems as deft as they are refreshingly unguarded, Glasgow queers nature itself, revealing the possibilities in the landscape to be as complex and limitless as those of the self: “There’s a buzz in the air./ It’s the world unzipping.””

“Rooted in ache and wonderment, deciduous qween by Matty Layne Glasgow is a dazzling queer catalog of loss and gain. The death of a singular mother kindles the empathic imagination of the speaker. Trees, like drag queens, preen and sparkle. Those marginalized by society are seen and heard. Pop culture clarifies desire. Glasgow’s command of craft is impressive. The images are precise and sensual, the lines are musical, and he pours language into eye-catching forms. The dexterity with language is matched by emotional acuity. Vulnerability, brashness, grief, and astonishment leap off the page. deciduous qween is a marvelous and inventive debut.”