This collection takes off from where Sky Gilbert's first volume of poetry concluded and begs the question: Has Sky Gilbert grown up?

Thankfully, the answer is no.

Like Digressions of a Naked Party Girl, Temptations of a Juvenile Deliquent does not represent a fine literary turn by a respected man of letters, nor is it an experiment in metaphor and metonymy ripe for exegesis and respect. Instead, it's a personal, confessional, hilarious, rant-filled thrill-ride -- where familiar streets are filled with gay boys, hookers, Key West sunshine, and movie stars. These are poems written on the run, between tricks, after orgies, and before that last cigarette at 4 in the morning. They are meant to be read: out loud, in bed, or simply as a tool for seduction. This dangerous book is recommended to minors, the inexperienced, the virginal, shut ins, and the sexually repressed, not University courses or best-seller lists anywhere.

Sky Gilbert is a writer, director, and drag queen extraordinaire. He was co-founder and artistic director of Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (North Americaâ??s largest gay and lesbian theatre) for 18 years. His hit plays include The Dressing Gown, Drag Queens on Trial, Play Murder, The Emotionalists, and the Dora Mavor Moore Award-winning The Whoreâ??s Revenge. His first three novels: Guilty (1998), St. Stephenâ??s, (1999) and I Am Kasper Klotz (2001) were critically acclaimed. ECW Press published Skyâ??s first collection of poetry, Digressions of a Naked Party Girl, in 1998, and his theatre memoir, Ejaculations from the Charm Factory, in 2000. His second book of collected poems, Temptations for a Juvenile Delinquent, was published by ECW in 2003. He was recently the recipient of the Margo Bindhardt Award (from the Toronto Arts Foundation), the Silver Ticket Award (from the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts), and the ReLit Award (for his fourth novel, An English Gentleman), and also recently received a PhD from the University of Toronto. By day, Sky holds a University Research Chair in Drama and Creative Writing at the University of Guelph.

Sky Gilbert's profile page