Sharp Pink Claws vol. 1 & 2 Book Review

Sharp Pink Claws is a slim 2 volume anthology from micro press Metonymy in Montreal. Metonymy Press describes itself as a “small gay publisher in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) keeping gay book lovers happy since 2015” and focuses on publishing books by queer and trans authors.  

Volume 1 contributors include Trish Salah, Kama La Mackerel, Hazel Jane Plante, Shanice Nicole, and H Felix Chau Bradley. Volume 2 contributors include Kai Cheng Thom, Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch, Grace Kwan, jiaqing wilson-yang, Markus Harwood-Jones, and Valérie Bah. There is a nice balance of poetry, short fiction and non-fiction pieces, which made this a nice, quick read. Trish Salah is an award-winning poet and gives us 2 self reflexive poems on love and gender. Hazel Jane Plante offers a creative non-fiction piece from a book in progress that uses analogies to talk about memory and, in particular, a childhood memory. 

“I wonder how to write about my life in a way that feels as layered as that cardboard island. I wonder how to protect the past from being hammered into a dull, flat surface…I wonder why some memories become polished by time, like lapidary stones in a streambed, while others remain wonky.” 

The closing piece from volume 1 is Brood by H Felix  Chau Bradley, which gives us the title “Sharp Pink Claws” and weaves a story about chaos, family relations, pigeons and hookups. 

Volume 2 is another good balance of poetry, short fiction and non-fiction pieces. Opening with a story by Kai Cheng Thom that is described as “epic, regal, and smutty” is a soaring look at relationships, whether between deities or deity/petitioner. It left me wanting more. Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch’s piece is a love letter to a film. If all film reviews were written with such emotion, I would never leave the theatre. “Rewinding” is the short fiction piece by jiaqing wilson-yang and it takes us back through fraught family relationships and lands in a place of self-quiet and acceptance. 

The intros by co-editors Eli Tareq El Bechelany-Lynch and Oliver Fugler are engaging and conversational, and the extro by out-going publisher Ashley Fortier makes you want to dip into the other books that Metonymy has published over the past 10 years. These anthologies are a quick and touching read. 

Reviewed by Lori Guest