"Kill your boyfriends" -Alex Dimitrov

Last Thursday after class myself and a few other classmates went to a reading at the Lilian Vernon Creative Writers House. There were two people who read their work that night Marie Howe and Alex Dimitrov. I would like to focus on Alex Dimitrov because this reading was the release of his book “Begging for it” which I purchased and have now read. One thing that kept my eyes fixed on Alex was the way in which he spoke and read allowed his own work. His poems are so innately personal and yet he read them with confidence and composure. In the first poem he read he stated,  ‘This is not a personal poem – I don’t write about my life” This statement was later followed by “ I had an orgasm before writing this poem”. Alex Dimitrov’s poetry is so organically personal I thought it was fascinating that he began with a poem in which he then so clearly contradicted. Through his readings of a few poems I connected with the author and felt even though he is a gay man and I am a woman, I could relate to his experiences with relationships and sex.

After the first poem, I was looking to the back of the room to make sure I was the first person in line to buy his book. He also gave me an interesting idea. He gave himself the task of writing an instructional poem, which the read to us. His poem was entitled “kill your boyfriends” and was one of my favorite poems he read. I went to this reading not expecting much and walked out with my new favorite book of poetry.