A remarkable debut from a promising new poet.

In his debut collection, Real Boys, Thomas Stewart examines the death of his father and explores questions of grief, guilt, mental health, identity, sexuality and masculinity. As these poems unfold, a hallway of mirrors is created. Through the lens of father-son relationships, cinema, art and Welsh mythology are expanded and rethought. This collection grapples with what it means to be a father, a son and a self. Subverting the notions of gender, Stewart addresses both the damage of old stereotypes and the passage of generational trauma, questioning how we might change.

'A wonderful meditation on the language of grief, want, lust and hope' – Jenni Fagan

'A beautiful and wistful collection which wrangles with life’s ample grief and heartache' – Andrés N. Ordorica

'These poems are a revelation. I took great comfort from Thomas Stewart’s collection' – Lotte Jeffs

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Give me my grief back
• Botanophobia
• There Are Bees in My Beard
• Conkers
• Leviathan
• First Sign
• The Wizard of Oz
• Tobacco
• Pact
• Poetic License
• Building a Wardrobe With My father
• Real Boy
• Sunflowers
• Space Jam
• Making Love to a Man
• Teeth / Destruction
• The Men Who Wore Foxes on Their Heads
• Cardiff Grindr, 2015
• Oesophagus
• My Father’s Body
• Widow
• Death City
• Declaration
• Weekend
• Burial site
• Prince Pwyll Visits His Son’s Grave
• Ivan the Terrible and His Son
• Dead Star
• burning my father’s pj’s
• Half Orphan
• Gladiator(s)
• Sister Act II
• Dead tooth
• And Then the Flowers Came
• My Anxiety Lives as an Acorn in my Stomach
• Father’s Day
• Crib Witch
• Fault
• A Wish
• Babadook
• Six Butterflies and a Moth on a Rose Branch
• In Defence of Commodus
• Road to Perdition
• Elffin ap Gwyddno finds Taliesin
• Empire of Dirt
• This New World Has the Same Moon
• My Funeral
• Blue
• Pryderi
• His Gravestone
• Notes & Acknowledgements