Private Parts: The Early Work of Ian Ayres
Ayres began writing poetry at puberty in houses of ill fame for his prostitute mother, who soon opened her own chain of brothels. For his 18th birthday Ayres was given a brothel in Miami Beach, Florida, which he set out to run as successfully as he could. His only goal was to make his mother proud. While Ayres practically lived in these houses of ill fame, prostitutes encouraged the dark and often tortured verse of the author as a teen struggling with his sexuality in an underworld where love was an act and sex, a function. From such turmoil emerged a most original literary voice that Ayres, in his new introduction, claims metamorphosed the lost boy he was "from pimp to poet". Some folks might frown upon a son not keeping the fact that his mother was a prostitute crammed into an overcrowded closet of family skeletons. Yet this book seems to have freed Ayres from much shame. Perhaps it can help others learn we're all only human on the same sinking ship. He is for honesty. From watching his mother con so many trusting souls, he's learned no matter how much one may think they've got people fooled, the truth remains. This book took guts and dares reveal all that taboo forbids.
Bringing together the best poems from AyresÕ early verse (much of it written in houses of ill fame) to his erotic and darkly imaginative later pieces, this stunning collection also features his previously unpublished experiences with porno star Jeremy Scott, plus luminary legends such as Tennessee Williams, Allen Ginsberg, Yoko Ono, Edmund White and Quentin Crisp. More than a book, PRIVATE PARTS is an experience of teen angst, hangovers for breakfast and raw enlightenment tripping over that cliff's edge in the rye. It would not exist if Ayres were not a survivor. Or did selling his soul to Satan keep him around long enough to create a collection destined for the flames of hell? This is a book James Dean would have enjoyed watching people read just to see them hiss.
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Product Details:
- Publisher: French Connection Press (March 2009)
- ISBN: 978-2-914853-101
- List Price: $16.00 (USD) $20 (CAD) €11 (EUR) £11.00 (GBP) $24 (AUD)
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