A Funeral of Strangers Gathered Over a Body of Thought

Description

T.J. McGowan, also known as The Everyday Bite, is a Bronx-based writer, poet, and spoken word artist. His work has appeared in Collective Unrest, Vamp Cat Mag, Flash Fiction Magazine, BX Writers, and Mojave Heart. He is the author of the chapbooks Anatomy of Us, God is a Woman, the spoken word album I Wear Another Man’s Name, and the novelTimeless Gardens & Other Beautiful Miseries. T.J. also performs as one half of the meditative metal duo Subtle Bodies, blending spoken word and trip-rock.

“At once lyrical & frank, anguished & unflinching, A Funeral of Strangers Gathered Over a Body of Thought is less a book of poems & more like a voyage—& McGowan, an insightful, compassionate, & trustworthy guide well-versed in navigating the unknown. McGowan writes about grief, desire, shame, & transformation with an eerie beauty, with language so exacting it is always on the verge of cutting you open to reveal the strangers inside yourself. In this collection, McGowan imagines & interrogates a world in which escaping & coming home are one & the same, & we are all the better off for it.” — Mac Crane, author of I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself and A Sharp Endless Need

More Praise for T.J. McGowan

“Between his birds-eye view of our connection to the universe and his fly-on-the-wall insight into human nature, McGowan is a master of perspective who makes you question if you’ve ever truly seen a person at all.” — Lauren Eden,author of Laying You to Rest, Of Yesteryear, and This is the Last Time I Will Write About Boys

“McGowan is able to compellingly balance heart-cracking grief and the triumph of the human spirit. He writes this fantastical tale with lucidity and honey-smooth lyricism. The characters are written with such tenderness that you are tempted to reach into the pages, pull them out of the book, and wrap them in woolen blankets. In his novel, McGowan reminds us what it means to be fully alive, even in the face of tragedy, hardship, and loss. It left me eviscerated and marveling, and for that it is a book I will return to.” — Jacqueline Bird, author of Taste Life Twice

“I was on the edge of my seat rapidly turning pages to see what would become of my friends.  I cried, I raged, I was horrified- but I was also gently held and provided hope through dark times. I am moved and won’t soon forget this poignant and ever relevant story. You won’t be disappointed in the ways in which it ends. A grand payoff after timeless gardens’ grief.” — Alise Versella, author of Inaccurate Histories and When Wolves Become Birds