A unique and fearless collage about love, violence and growing up queer.
After publishing his first four books in the United States, i’m still growing brings the poetry of Josiah Morgan (Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Maniapoto) into print in Aotearoa for the first time. Snippets from a cursed male high-school culture, conversations from Grindr, and the vocabularies of BDSM appear and shapeshift against the backdrop of suburban New Zealand. Violence is intertwined with sexuality, and sexuality with catharsis, while earnest questions about adulthood shine through.
Bold and queer, i’m still growing pushes back against the conventions of autobiographical poetry to offer a distorted mirror to a messy world. What is the relationship between care and violence? Can growing up amidst the Christchurch earthquake undermine belief in stability – even the stability of language?
i’m still growing is a eulogy to dead friends, a eulogy to a dead self, and a promise of what is to come.
Don’t miss the launch of this collection at Little Andromeda on Tuesday 20th February 2024, the event will be supported by four other local individuals – Tim Morgan, the musician Hannah-Grace Horton and poets Isla Huia and Laura Borrowdale.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Josiah Morgan (Kāi Tahu, Ngāti Maniapoto) is a queer multimedia artist living and working in Ōtautahi. At age 22, he is a theatre maker and actor, the author of four books, and an educator for Sexwise promoting sexual health in high schools across Aotearoa. His work has been featured in The Spinoff, Landfall, Out Here, eel magazine, Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook and Mayhem, among many other international journals, online blogs, and magazines.
i’m still growing is published by Dead Bird Books.