MOONSICK by Korbin Jones

“Korbin Jones‘ chapbook, MOONSICK, is an exploration of personal mythology. Using themes of escapism and portal fantasy, Jones has created a queer Alice in Wonderland: ‘[I] Climbed down the manhole / that was tucked neatly in the dark…When I stopped falling, / I landed on bottles.’ This narrative examines sexuality in a world that feels almost like a laboratory. Here, the body is on the table, and the speaker pokes and prods it, peeling away the skin to find what lies beneath. Here, the body both does and doesn’t exist. A harrying compilation, this long poem pulls the reader from one edge to another, leaving them wondering how they can slough away their own skin and become something new.”

–Hannah V Warren, [re]construction of the necromancer

“MOONSICK is an epic poem which shows us the illumination of the protagonist’s first queer experience. This first experience unsheathes the narrator from his skin, exposing him to the rhythms of a queer world. Jones’s blending of elements both natural and fantastical creates an interesting yet consistent image, such as that of voyeurs gazing through an ethereal wall, fertilizing the soil that is the skin. Through such events, the reader becomes wary that they’ve also become voyeurs, as the narrator reveals all of himself to us.”

–Jeremy Mifsud, From the Backseat of a Bus