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Review

Mute is a collection of poems by Raymond Luczak, from A Midsummer Night's Press. According to the bio, the author lost most of his hearing at the age of seven months. Given the extensive list of names in the book's memoriam, he has also lost a substantial number of friends. Those losses inform much of the poetry here, but the collection is far from maudlin. It reflects life from the perspective of a deaf gay man. By turns poignant, funny and erotic, it even provides some very practical advice for the hearing on how to interact with the hearing-impaired. In these pages are young, lonely, uncertain guys flirting with older men and fantasizing about love in springtime. Lovers lie together in bed, communicating in ways that transcend language, spoken or hand-signed. And there are men who look aging and death squarely in the eye without blinking. The poetry is simply beautiful.

 -- Gilbert Williams