Reading native, David Nazario celebrated the release of his first book of poetry, Poems Written In The Bathtub While Cumming Out with a book launch event and live reading hosted at Barrio Alegria in downtown Reading Saturday afternoon.
Poems Written In The Bathtub While Cumming Out is Nazario’s first book of poetry and is being published by independent publisher, SDJ Press. The collection features eighteen original poems about Nazario’s coming out journey as a Black and Latino Queer man.
In the spirit of local collaboration, the book’s cover design and interior graphics were created by Reading native Idalmi Rivera. The launch event featured a special performance by multidisciplinary Queer artist, Grimm.
“It’s about celebrating the fact that sexuality is fluid, that it changes at times and it can expand and grow. This book is a celebration of that. It’s about learning and unlearning, healing and liberation. I’m excited to launch the book here in Reading. From this event, I’ll be able to create a fund for Barrio Alegria that is specifically for black and Brown LGBTQ+ people in the community” said Nazario.
During the book launch, Nazario signed copies of his book for guests, read poetry from the collection, and participated in a Q&A session.
Nazario said a portion of the proceeds from the event will go toward supporting Black and Brown LGBTQ+ community members and funding new LGBTQ+ focused programming at Barrio Alegria.
“I hope it creates a way for people who may be going through a similar thing to feel free to voice what they’re going through and to share their journey. Especially as black and Latino men, I think it’s hard to be a gay man period, but especially our culture a lot of times there’s machismo and manliness associated with being tough and hard. I hope that this book can open the door to conversations that expand the way that we view masculinity, the way that we view femininity, the way we view gay people, the way we view queer people” said Nazario.
Poems Written In The Bathtub While Cumming Out is available on Amazon, Barns & Noble, and at Mahogany Books.
