Part memoir, part history, Chelsea Boy explores one twenty–year–old's transformation from small–town Iowa boy to big–city Chelsea Boy. Inspired by New York's famous gayborhood's venues and nightlife, Moreau's poems explore what was gained, and what was lost, to identify as a Chelsea Boy—a term historically and contextually as diverse as the community it belongs to. Through travels beyond the gay–ghetto of Chelsea's streets, Chelsea Boy seeks to unfold this stereotype and find definition in the term and meaning in one's identity.
Review
Chelsea Boy, by Craig Moreau, is a book of poetry for readers who are not necessarily poetry fans. It is for anyone who has ever been to this fabled neighborhood on the first warm day of spring and witnessed the parade of buff Chelsea Boys strutting down 8th Avenue. It is for anyone who has lingered at the tables at The Viceroy on 18th and 8th or Elmo’s at 19th and 7th. It is for anyone who has ever been brave enough to venture into The Rawhide. And since no poetry book about Chelsea would be complete without mention of the New York Sports Club (NYSC) branch on 16th Street, Moreau dedicates an entire poem to cruising one of the center’s “gym bunnies”.
The poems do move beyond the walls of the neighborhood all the way from Midtown and the Meat Packing District to the volleyball nets of Fire Island. For those not familiar with the rhythm of Chelsea or even NYC, Moreau’s poems even venture out to Miami Beach, San Francisco and beyond. But the main character of this book of poetry is, without a doubt, the neighborhood of Chelsea.
The poetry evokes the playfulness and eroticism that is Chelsea; complete with images of cruising and hard bodies. What makes this book worthwhile though is the fact that Moreau’s poetry weaves through the tales of sexual encounters the very real themes of loneliness, disillusion and insecurity. Don’t shy away from Chelsea Boy because it is a book of poetry. Take a chance on a well-written, thought provoking book of images familiar to us all.
