Matthew Guenette
Gender has had a major part in my latest manuscript, American Busboy. The poems are voice-activated, in attempt to capture a kind of male-violence that can be inherent in the food service industry. Certainly the waitresses suffer in that environment, as the cooks and managers alternate between hitting on them and heaping on abuse. The busboy in the manuscript experiences something similar, a kind of constant attack that feels particular to traditional (socio-economic) visions of gender.
—bass and snare—
We'd been stealing sips of watered-down gin
from Steve's dad's mini-bar. The cellar
dimly lit, blue velvet and red pepper lights,
a wall-length mirror patterned back
the lurid glow. For bikini girls and NBA All-Stars—
an audience of posters—
we pretended to be AC/DC,
Back in Black's thick pistons pumping from wood-
paneled speakers. Mike and Mike air-guitaring
on tennis rackets argued over
who was the duck-walking lead Angus Young.
Steve with a broom holding down the low end.
My drumsticks two leaky pens. From the leather
sectional, the foot rests—bass and snare—
slowly staining, exploding dust
Matthew Guenette's first book, Sudden Anthem, won the 2007 American Poetry Journal Book Prize from Dream Horse Press. He is currently in Wiesbaden, Germany, as the Writer-in-Residence for the Hessen-Wisconsin Literary Exchange. He lives and works in Madison, WI.