Deathwish
Deathwish by Ben Fama, graduate ’14, MFA in Creative Writing program at The New School
Newest York, 2019
Ben Fama’s Deathwish drops us back into the beauty and the fantasies teased out in his first book Fantasy, re-braiding them through BDSM scenarios, metaphysical inquiries, and the maximalism of the contemporary.
Ben Fama’s “I” is a desolate seer; his “you” is us all; reading Deathwish is a role play. These sexy, uncluttered poems are love notes and accusations saturated with a personal/political heartsickness I find weirdly consoling. Fama’s vivid, semi-abstract renderings of moments within our terrible moments are gifts.
— Johanna Fateman
Deathwish finds beauty in scarcity and drained resources—nudes take up
all the data, and brunch is a blackout. These poems want to die young, but instead live out the melancholy of endurance. I loved this book.
— Chelsea Hodson
If your iPhone had any feelings it would write like Ben Fama.
— Ariana Reines