“The world revolves inside the eye of the hawk./It is a looking glass.” -Thomas James from Letters to a Stranger
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Love him 😭😭
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Hard to believe this is a first book. So so good.
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Blew me away the first time I read it.
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By the way, not sure if you're interested, but this book influenced the writer Allen Barnett, who peppered his book of stories, The Body and Its Dangers, with references to James's work. Barnett would die soon after publication of his book. Unlike James, Barnett died of AIDS.
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Fascinating! Rabih, I'm always interested in everything you have to say ☺️.
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Incredible. I need to read it, Rabih. 🖤
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The book, a classic, came out in the middle of the AIDS pandemic. How he was able to write so beautifully about the pandemic, while ill and in the midst of it, is beyond me. Gay man from Chicago, I think. And he was obsessed with Thomas James.
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Hi Rabih! I just wrote my thesis on James. Allen Barnett and James knew each other (and possibly had some kind of relationship) in Joliet, IL. Barnett was heavily impacted by James' death and began writing what turned into his book while grieving James!
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Thank you. That would make sense. I remember reading that Barnett pushed James's book to every poet he knew, but I didn't know that they knew each other (biblically or not!)
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