The worlds we occupy ourselves with
are not real. The Russians in the ring
are not Russian; their pal, mincing
around with his silk scarves and boas,
has never taken another man's penis
into his mouth. The act is convincing
though there's nothing worth taking
shame in. We revel in the same things.
We know the secret language of flesh
and musculature. Some of us speak
it in tongues of sweat and oil.
Hold Me Gorilla Monsoon collects poems and comic strips about sex and gender as viewed through the lens of professional wrestling. In poems written to or about wrestlers like Junkyard Dog, Roddy Piper, Ox Baker, The Ultimate Warrior, The Rock, and CM Punk, Colette Arrand teases out the homoerotic roots of wrestling and how its warped, cartoon masculinity plays itself out over the course of a fan's life.