Some men love each other. For others, love of something else gets between them.

Pádraig Ó Tuama’s Love Between Men begins in the garden of Eden, recasting Adam, Eve, and God into voices both abrasive and intimate. Then, in seven deadly sonnets, the poet details his own experiences of exorcisms and gay reparative therapies and exploring desire with its promise and fear of fulfillment. Here, the poet challenges us with the age-old question: what happens when we get what we want?

‘Terrific . . . I have been dipping into this magnificent book with enormous pleasure.’ –Stephen Fry

‘Mesmerising, magical, deeply moving.’ –Elif Shafak

‘If I need melody, I’ll turn to Paul Simon. If I need rhythm, I’ll listen to Steve Gadd. But if it’s words, well that will be Pádraig ÓTuama.’ –Simon Mayo

Drawing inspiration from his own lived experience that is both intimate and universal, Ó Tuama’s deeply personal collection is simultaneously intelligent, funny, devastating, and explosive. Here is rage paired with prayer, in punked-up forms and broken sequences. Love Between Men celebrates and challenges love: of history, poetry, and language—and ultimately, of change.

These poems are a visceral manifestation of Ó Tuama’s lifelong interest in conflict, religion, and language. He presents Poetry Unbound from On Being Studios, a podcast with over 21 million downloads. His previous books include Kitchen Hymns, In the Shelter, and 44 Poems on Being with Each Other. He now lives in the US on Quinnipiac land and teaches at Yale Divinity School.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Pádraig Ó Tuama’s poetry and prose centre around themes of language, power, conflict and religion. His work has won acclaim in circles of poetry, politics, psychotherapy and conflict analysis. His formal qualifications (PhD, MTh and BA) cover creative writing, literary criticism and theology. Alongside this, he pursued vocational training in conflict analysis, specialising in groupwork.

His published work is in the fields of poetry, anthology, essay, memoir, theology and conflict. Profiled in The New Yorker, Pádraig’s poems have been featured in Poetry Ireland Review, Ploughshares, Academy of American Poets, Harvard Review, New England Review, Raidió Teilifís Éireann’s Poem of the Week, and the Kenyon Review.

Pádraig has told stories at The Moth, has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, has presented programmes on poetry and language for BBC Radio 4; and has extended interviews with On Being, with Kim Hill on Radio NZ, and Soul Search on Radio National (Australia). In addition, he has interviewed poets and public figures including former President of Ireland Mary McAleese, Fady Joudah, Hanif Abdurraqib, The Edge, Sarah Perry, Joy Harjo, Billy Collins and Martin Hayes.

ABOUT CHEERIO PUBLISHING

CHEERIO Publishing is an eclectic, independent publishing imprint and production company launched in 2020 in association with The Estate of Francis Bacon.

We commission innovative books and films that confound received ideas and open the door to new perceptions. We aim to bring unusual books to a mainstream audience. In the spirit of Francis Bacon’s work, we are here to intrigue, disturb and thrill.