Queer Reader: I think this is a really beautiful-looking book—just in terms of the presentation. Are you pleased with the look and the presentation of this book of poetry?
Bakar Wilson: I am very pleased with it, very proud of it. I have to say that my friend Krista Franklin who is an artist, based out of Ohio, she worked out of Chicago for a while, but she’s from Ohio originally, so I commissioned her to do the cover of the book. And I sent her a picture of me and my parents and I told her to work around that picture. And she did a wonderful job. And I love it. I think it looks great and I’m really pleased with it.
Queer Reader: It’s very evocative. It doesn’t reveal everything…
Bakar Wilson: I agree with you. It doesn’t reveal. It intrigues.
Queer Reader: There’s a lot to love in this book, Bakar. I was just reading it for the third time. And one of the things that surprises me about this book is that for a book of poetry it really scans. You read it and keep reading it. I actually had trouble putting it down.
Bakar Wilson: That’s good to hear.
Queer Reader: And normally with a good poetry you think that’s a good poem and I’ll come back to this…
Bakar Wilson: Mmm, hmm.
Queer Reader: But here it does pull you in in a way that’s unusual I think, for a book of poetry. There are a few elements of that, I think. Can you talk about that?
Bakar Wilson: Yeah, I can talk about the narrative arc of it, if that’s what you’re curious about.
Queer Reader: Yeah, let’s go with that because I want to talk about the first poem. But let’s talk about whatever one you want to talk about first.
Bakar Wilson: We can talk about “Poet Manifesto”. That’s a poetry exercise that a lot of poets will do. Just kind of like what your project is, what your goal is in regarding to your work, what you’re working on. And so in “Poet Manifesto” I was just letting the reader know what’s going to happen throughout the book. I would describe this as an autobiographical collection of poems. It is very autobiographical particularly in the first part, so it talks about my childhood. And it ends with COVID poems which was done on purpose because I finished this manuscript during COVID, so there are COVID poems at the end of the collection. So, basically it’s like autobiographical from my childhood, my growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness, being gay but closeted, and losing my father. The sexual abuse from my stepfather, moving to New York—this city I feel is a character in this collection as well. It’s very much about place.
Queer Reader: I just wanted to say about that first poem: There are a lot of sharp edges to that poem. And the last line is breath-taking. It’s definitely… Would you say that it sets the tone—sets the tone for the poems that follow?
Bakar Wilson: I think it does set the tone.
Queer Reader: I love the poem and it’s a remarkable poem to start with. The narrative itself, you’ve already brought this up, the theme of father—or absent father. That’s such a strong theme that comes throughout this book of poems. Do you think that’s part of the reason why it reads, it scans if you will? That it keeps you reading—keep turning the pages?
Bakar Wilson: I think part of the irony of the book is it’s called Daddy Show and I’m not a father. I decided not to have children. I mean obviously they do surrogates or adoption, but I made the conscious choice to not be a father and that’s there as well, especially in the last poem. When you read “Appreciation”, which again, “Appreciation” is a COVID poem and the first line is “Appreciate that you don’t have children.” And that’s the first line of that poem and I think that circles back to the title and it’s like okay I’m not a father, but you know, I had one.
Queer Reader: In terms of this collection, some of them are published and some of them are previously unpublished…
Bakar Wilson: Yeah…
Queer Reader: So, was that a big challenge, sorting through all that and deciding in, particular, what order they would be in?
Bakar Wilson: Yeah, that was a huge challenge. I went through this manuscript probably reworking the order for like two or three years. Honestly. And writing new stuff. It was a real process. There are poems that didn’t make it in here. There are poems that I had written that at the end of the day these didn’t fit the way I wanted them to.
Queer Reader: In terms of the types of poetry, it seems to me that this is a very varied collection. You even have haikus in here…
Bakar Wilson: Yeah, that was one of my goals as well: to play with form. I’ve studied form. I’ve studied with Marilyn Hacker—one of the great formalist poets–at the Graduate School of the City College of New York. I’ve studied with Mark Jarman at Vanderbilt University. So, I know form. One of the things I wanted to do is give the reader a varied sense of how poetry can take different forms and still connect with the narrative. And I think that I was successful in that—like with poems like “S/M.” or “J/K”. That’s a form that I made up…
Queer Reader: I like how you put that. You said: “That is a form that I made up”…
Bakar Wilson: Yeah.
Queer Reader: So that’s your form now. I’m genuinely curious about this. I personally am not a poet and I’m just fascinated by this poetry and by great poetry…
Bakar Wilson: Wonderful. That’s great.
Queer Reader: I would just say probably the poem which for me reads like it has the most formal style is a poem which takes me from the beginning to the end and then I want to read it again is “Love Poem #3”…
Bakar Wilson: Oh yeah, that’s interesting. It’s so interesting the poems that I hear from people the poems that they respond to. I’m glad you liked that one.
Queer Reader: It’s the kind of poem that you’re following it along and you’re following it along and you get to the end and then you want to read it again and you do. It has this very special quality. I have to honestly ask you—and this is where we get to process…. You’ve talked with me about themes, titles, we’ve even talked about the presentation of the book itself, but this book is composed of individual poems. Let’s talk about “In Christ Drowning”. This is where I’m trying to get to. How do you, as a poet write? First of all, in my view, most of your poems to use a layman’s term have great punchlines. You read it to then and you’re like “wow”. It hits you at the end.
Bakar Wilson: Uh, hunh.
Queer Reader: And that’s true with a lot of great poetry, I think. But when I look at “In Christ Drowning”…
Bakar Wilson: Mmmm hmm…
Queer Reader: The first line: “The full moon coaxes waves from the ocean on a night when the wind moves through you like a miracle.”
Bakar Wilson: Yeah.
Queer Reader: So, you just came up with that?
Bakar Wilson: Yeah.
Queer Reader: I mean just off the top of your head?
Bakar Wilson: Yeah sure. Like I said, I grew up Jehovah’s Witness growing up until I was about sixteen, so my relationship with religion is fraught. I don’t know if you’re familiar Jehovah’s Witnesses, but they don’t accept homosexuality and things of that nature. Very strict. They don’t celebrate your birthday or holidays and things of that nature. And so, a lot of the religious references that appear in this book are a response to my upbringing. And “In Christ Drowning” is a poem that I wrote and you know those nights on the beach and the ocean looks so large and you feel so small. It is sort of a reaction to the way I was raised—reaction to the way we as a culture view religion and I mean also on some level I think it’s political as well and I think a lot of poems in here are political. And I like the line I think it’s kind of funny too—you know the line: “Sharks wouldn’t attack him because he’s Jesus, and surely the Sharks did not want to go to hell for eating God’s son” It’s just…
Queer Reader: (Laugher.) Yeah, well, it’s logical…
Bakar Wilson: There’s a level of play that exists in there,
Queer Reader: (Laughter.) Yeah, that makes sense, just following the train of thought…
Bakar Wilson: Yeah, following the train of thought.
Queer Reader: It seems like with all of these poems you know where you’re going from the beginning. Do they come to you all at once? I mean, that first line alone I think where does that come from? And of course, it’s just the first line of the poem “In Christ Drowning”—there’s more to come but… How did you write that…?
Bakar Wilson: I could tell you that I wrote this poem in one sitting.
Queer Reader: Okay…
Bakar Wilson: Yeah, I did and it was very deliberate. I did know where I was going with this. I can tell you about the title. Everyone’s always, “In Christ”. And the Christians say, “Thank you, in Christ”. Well, okay, what if you’re in Christ and you’re drowning in Christ? What if you’re overwhelmed by a theocracy, a theocratic government that you know takes away your abortion rights or whatever?
Queer Reader: I think there’s so many amazing poems in this book and I’m familiar with some of your poems before this but one of the things that struck me about your work, in particular, is for lack of a better word, fearlessness.
Bakar Wilson: I think that’s fair. To call it fearless, yeah.
Queer Reader: Is that a characteristic of your poetry from the beginning? Because as far as I’ve been following you, you’re just fearless.
Bakar Wilson: I think it’s a reflection of me as a person. I think that I’m someone who always speaks my mind. I’m also a critic and I think a lot of these poems are critical and I try to be as honest as possible.
Queer Reader: So, you haven’t felt either in these times—these particular horrible times that we’re living in right now or earlier than that—you haven’t felt any need to self-censor—’maybe I shouldn’t say that…’?
Bakar Wilson: Yeah, I understand what you’re saying. I did not for this. I did not feel the need to self-censor. I wanted it to be coming in hot! It’s like, here you are and people can like it or hate it, but I don’t care. These are the things that I needed to say—without censoring.
Queer Reader: I guess I should that for me particularly on the queer issue, one of the things that also kept me turning the pages if I can say this is uh…. I’m not sure these words actually show up in the poems but maybe they do, the term, “slut positive”.
Bakar Wilson: Oh, yeah, yeah yeah! That’s a part of the process and that’s a part of the autobiography it’s…I would call it “slut positive”. I mean, like I know that I’m promiscuous and not so much now because I’m older, but a lot of these poems were written when I was in my twenties. So, I was definitely more promiscuous back then and yeah there’s no… I’m actively not slut shaming. I’m not doing that. It’s just like this is my experience. Writing a poem like “Consent” for instance I think is really powerful because it’s like you always want to say ‘yes’ and you’re saying ‘no’ then don’t do it. I think it’s a sex positive collection as well.
Queer Reader: “Grindr Vibin”…
Bakar Wilson: Yup, “Grindr Vibin”.
Queer Reader: It’s also a choice to entitle that poem “Grindr Vibin”….
Bakar Wilson: Yeah. These are things that I did on purpose.
Queer Reader: Yeah.
Bakar Wilson: And that’s connected. You know, the line in the first poem, “Poet Manisfesto”—“I intend to queer your ink”—is what this collection does. It’s very queer and very queer positive.
Queer Reader: Can we say these are sexy poems?
Bakar Wilson: You can call them sexy poems. I would like to also think of them as sexy.
Queer Reader: Do you have a specific favorite poem in this collection? Are there ones that really stick out for you?
Bakar Wilson: That’s a hard question.
Queer Reader: It’s like asking who’s your favorite child…
Bakar Wilson: Who’s your favorite baby! I do love “S/M”, because it is a poem that whenever I read it people are very like: It’s not what they expect. It’s like: “Oo! S. and M.!” and they’re expecting this leather, chains whatever—whatever they put into their head, but it’s literally just S. and M. words put together. It’s not giving you anything really tawdry.
Queer Reader: Right: “Secular Modernism”, “Scholastic Manipulation”.
Bakar Wilson: It’s also having fun with our stereotype. We all have this thing laid on it and now you’re asking us to think about it in a different way.
Queer Reader: Thank you so much for your time. But before we wrap this up, I do want to ask you if you have any Influences? Specific influences?
Bakar Wilson: Oh, well definitely James Baldwin.
Queer Reader: Yes! Amen! Thank you!
Bakar Wilson: Yeah, I because I mean I feel I love his audacity. I feel like this book is audacious. So, definitely James Baldwin. Visual artists: definitely Jean-Michel Basquiat. That’s my next project that I’m working on. But it’s really James Baldwin. I love his audacity. I love his honesty. Other writers I could bring up. I could say Dawn Lundy Martin or Cornelius Eady. Black poets who are writing right now obviously influence me as well, but I love James Baldwin’s audacity in his writing so that’s what I really try to emulate.
I teach at Borough of Manhattan Community College now. Whenever I teach Introduction to Literature, I always teach Giovanni’s Room. I think it’s the perfect novel for college students because it’s not that long and it’s so deep. The language is so rich. I think all of his books are page-turners honestly. Another Country I love. And he writes queer characters so well and especially when you think about that time.
And my students love it. First of all, they don’t know who he is, because they are ‘children’. And they’re like, ‘oh you’re giving me this book to read you’re giving me this novel’ and then come away with it and it’s like, “Oh my god this is great!”
Queer Reader: That took a lot of courage to write that book and to pursue it. Apparently, his agent didn’t want to pursue a publication. And then Knopf….
Bakar Wilson: No, they did not. They were like, “Don’t do this”. And he did it anyway. So that’s how I feel about my book. I’m just going to do this anyway!
Bakar Wilson’s Daddy Show is published by Get Fresh Publishing.
June 19, 2026