Table Of ContentUWP: Elledge&Groff: Who's Yer Daddy? page i
Who’s Yer Daddy?
UWP: Elledge&Groff: Who's Yer Daddy? page ii
Terr ace Books, a trade imp rint of the Univ er sity of Wisc on sin Press, takes its name
from the Me mo rial Union Ter race, lo cated at the Uni ver sity of Wis con sin–Mad i son.
Since its in cep tion in 1907, the Wis cons in Union has pro vided a venue for stu dents,
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UWP: Elledge&Groff: Who's Yer Daddy? page iii
Daddy?
Who’s
Yer
Gay Writ ers Cel e brate
Their Men tors and
Fore run ners
Ed ited by
Jim El ledge
and
David Groff
Ter race Books
A trade im print of the Univ er sity of Wis con sin Press
UWP: Elledge&Groff: Who's Yer Daddy? page iv
Ter race Books
A trade imp rint of the Uni ver sity of Wisc on sin Press
1930 Mon roe Street, 3rd Floor
Madi son, Wis con sin 53711-2059
uw press.wisc.edu
3 Hen rietta Street
Lon don WCE 8LU, En gland
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Copy right © 2012
The Board of Reg ents of the Uni ver sity of Wis con sin System
All rights re served. No part of this pub li ca tion may be re pro duced, stored in a re trieval system, or
trans mit ted, in any for mat or by any means, dig i tal, elec tronic, me chan i cal, photo cop y ing, re cord ing,
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of Wis con sin Press, ex cept in the case of brief quo ta tions em bed ded in crit i cal ar ti cles and re views.
Printed in the United States of Amer ica
Li brary of Cong ress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Who’s yer daddy? : gay write rs cel e brate their men tors and forer unn ers / ed ited by Jim El ledge
and David Groff.
p. cm.
In cludes bib lio graph i cal ref er ences.
ISBN 978-0-299-28940-9 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-299-28943-0 (e-book)
1. Gay au thors— United States—Biog rap hy.
2. Gay men’s writ ings, American.
I. El ledge, Jim, 1950– II. Groff, David. III. Title.
PS647.G39W48 2012
810.9´352664—dc23
2012015510
Per mis sion has been granted to re print the fol low ing es says that were pre vi ously pub lished, some
in slightly dif fer ent ver sions: Kenny Fries’s “How I Learned to Drive: The Ed u ca tion of a Gay
Dis abled Writer” from The Pro gres sive; Aaron Hamburger’s “The Men tor I Never Met: Janet
Frame” from Poets & Write rs; Rand all Mann’s “Thom Gunn: A Mem oir of Readi ng” from The
Keny on Rev iew Onl ine; and Dale Peck’s “My Mother’s Grave Is Yell ow” from Conj unct ions.
A dif fer ent ver sion of Mark Doty’s “Walt Whit man: Glow on the Ex trem est Verge” orig i nally
ap peared in Sen eca Rev iew. Also, “Buck ley” by Paul Mon ette is re printed from West of Yes ter day, East
of Summ er: New and Sel ected Poems (1973–1993) (St. Martin’s). Copy right © 1994 by Paul Mone tte.
Re printed by perm is sion of David Groff and Wendy Weil for The Est ate of Paul Mon ette.
UWP: Elledge&Groff: Who's Yer Daddy? page v
For
David
&
For
Clay
UWP: Elledge&Groff: Who's Yer Daddy? page vi blank
UWP: Elledge&Groff: Who's Yer Daddy? page vii
Con tents
Ack nowl edg ments xi
Introd uc tion: All Our Dad dies—and Then Some 3
Jim El ledge and David Groff
Cult ure Club in Space: An Anec do tal Poet ics 9
Ben ja min S. Gross berg
Walt Whit man: Glow on the Ex trem est Verge 17
Mark Doty
Latin Moon Daddy 25
Charles Rice-González
Mak ing a Man Out of Me 32
Rich ard Blanco
Under the In flu ence 37
Chip Li ving ston
My Mother’s Grave Is Yel low 44
Dale Peck
Some Notes, Thoughts, Rec ol lec tions, Re vi sions, and
Cor rect ions Re gard ing Be com ing, Being, and
Rem ain ing a Gay Writer 52
Jus tin Chin
vii
one line short
UWP: Elledge&Groff: Who's Yer Daddy? page viii
My Three Dads 58
Charles Jen sen
Or pheus in Texas 69
Saeed Jones
“It does not have to be yours” 74
Mark Bib bins
A Hid den Life (On Joy Williams) 77
Paul Lis icky
Posi tively Not: A Talk about Poe tries and Tra di tions 82
Brian Teare
Ro man tic 90
Jeff Mann
The Tall a hatchie Meets the Arve, or Un ex pected Gay
Con flu ences in the ’70s 99
Greg He wett
How I Learned to Drive: The Ed uc a tion of a Gay
Disa bled Writer 108
Kenny Fries
How to Skin a Deer 113
Mar tin Hyatt
The Litt le Girls with Pe nises 120
Jim El ledge
Ou bloir 126
David McCon nell
Be loved Jot or a nos 131
Rig o berto González
Leav ing Berl in 144
El lery Wash ing ton
Teen age Riot: Notes on Some Books That Guided Me
through a Pro foundly Hor mo nal Time 153
Alis tair McCartn ey
My Radi c al Dads 161
David Groff
The Ment or I Never Met: Janet Frame 170
Aaron Ham bur ger
The Case of the Un done Novel 178
Rich ard McCann
viii Contents
UWP: Elledge&Groff: Who's Yer Daddy? page ix
Fu git ives 187
James Allen Hall
Some Notes on In flue nces or Why I Am Not Ob jec tive 196
Mi chael Klein
I Will Tell This Story the Way I Choose 201
Shaun Levin
Thom Gunn: A Me moir of Read ing 208
Ran dall Mann
Queeri ng an Ital ian American Poetic Leg acy 212
Peter Co vino
Van ity Fai rey Interv iews Writer Noël Alu mit 221
Noël Alum it
The Four of Them 227
Thomas Glave
Jump start 235
Tim Miller
Cal ib an 241
Dave King
My First Poetic Men tor Was a Welsh man Named Les lie 247
Tim o thy Liu
The World Is Full of Or phans 251
Ray mond Luc zak
The Seism ol ogy of Love and Let ters 256
Brian Leung
Bot ti celli Boy 266
Rick Barot
Miss Thing 279
Paul Bonin-Rodriguez
Thir teen Ways of Look ing at My Father 284
K. M. Soehnl ein
Con trib u tors 293
Contents ix
