The worlds we occupy ourselves withare not real. The Russians in the ringare not Russian; their pal, mincingaround with his silk scarves and boas,has never...

The worlds we occupy ourselves with

are not real. The Russians in the ring

are not Russian; their pal, mincing

around with his silk scarves and boas,

has never taken another man's penis

into his mouth. The act is convincing

though there's nothing worth taking

shame in. We revel in the same things.

We know the secret language of flesh

and musculature. Some of us speak

it in tongues of sweat and oil.

Hold Me Gorilla Monsoon collects poems and comic strips about sex and gender as viewed through the lens of professional wrestling. In poems written to or about wrestlers like Junkyard Dog, Roddy Piper, Ox Baker, The Ultimate Warrior, The Rock, and CM Punk, Colette Arrand teases out the homoerotic roots of wrestling and how its warped, cartoon masculinity plays itself out over the course of a fan's life.