Fish Boy

Skin, regardless of incarnation, must be shed. It’s how we survive. And for all of us who have never quite felt at ease in our own carapace (at least not at first), Fish Boy is a love note to every misfit either still reconciling their form, or only just now settling into it. As Gosslee comes into his own writerly skin, we get the sense that he has been building up to this moment for decades, “the dark priest” of poetry definitively declaring himself with these, some last rites for his father.
– Genna Rivieccio, The Opiate editor-in-chief

In Fish Boy, John Gosslee writes about a son’s loss of his father with a beautifully wrought intensity. He unpacks their relationship (even the parts many would shy away from), holds each piece up to the light, and examines it like a prism. Gosslee writes “Father, I’m not running anymore.” And that’s true—here, he turns to face the raw nerve of grief with guts and grit—a rare talent.
– Travis Wayne Denton, Terminus editor-in-chief