Double Penetration is a necessary book, something that safe readers and wannabe poets will hate. It cuts too close to the bone. It brings too many truths about ourselves, our family, spouses, friends and neighbours into the open light. It raises too many questions. It pushes too hard upon the boundary walls that polite society has taken so long to erect.
Thank goodness for authors like Ben Smith who put themselves out there as the freak in question – and make us feel better about our own freakish natures, which we so desperately try to hide from others. The poetry of Ben Smith teaches us that our imperfections are okay and that we needn’t take ourselves so seriously. These writings talk us down from our ledges, pry our fingers from the trigger and put knives back in drawers where they belong – they teach us to laugh at the absurdity and inevitability of life. They teach us that sometimes these fucked-up moments from home movie reels are “as beautiful/as we are ever/going to get.” They teach us to stop being fake with ourselves, our writing, and to just get up on stage, take in a deep breath and let out three, short, primal grunts.
"Drunk at the matinee" is a collection of candid poetry about stupid shit that we all experience from day to day.
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