“I LIKE FOOTBALL, BEER, TRUCKS, AND FISHING, BUT I’M A POET.”
thinking about with those associative images was beauty. I was trying to find those little moments that make you weep because they’re precious, beautiful, or sad.” Coming from a guy who dons a Bears jersey most Sundays, the search for the world’s inherent beauty might seem a little unexpected. But as one review for American Amen aptly states, “In gutting a fish, Gary can find the sublime. Gary L. McDowell’s big-shouldered poems house both self-doubt and a bottomless well of kindness.” In other words, Gary may focus on Dad-esque pursuits (i.e. fishing, camping, etc.), but in doing so, he forces readers to reevaluate the seemingly mundane nature of everyday life. Unintentionally, Gary’s work breaks the divisions between masculinity and sensitivity, caregiving and providing, strength and weakness. Addressing this aspect of his work, he begins, “In America, the male poet is perceived as the sensitive, vegetarian hippie—all those things people unfairly characterize as vulnerable or maybe even weak— that’s the image that people who aren’t familiar with contemporary poetry have of poets.” He scans the eclectic blend of academia and sports culture around him before adding with conviction, “I like football, beer, trucks, and fishing, but I’m a poet.” With a goatee, half-inch buzz cut, and Nikes, he doesn’t look like a man who’s published multiple collections of poems, earned a PhD in literature, or devoted his life to the art of words—but he definitely writes like one..
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# N AT IVE N AS H VILLE