Nin Andrews interviewed Joseph O. Legaspi on a range of subjects mentioned in his new book Threshold. The book is available right now in the CavanKerry Press book store.
Read the full interview below.
Nin Andrews: This is such a great book, mesmerizing from beginning to end. I love the opening poem, a lovely erotic poem in which you have this great revelation, i.e. that your father is not in the bedroom with you. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to laugh or cry. I wondered if you might say a few words about the writing of the poem?
Joseph O. Legaspi: I’d say react as you so inclined. I also find that particular revelation funny, yet beguiling, lonely, defiant. It was an instance in my feverish writing of the first draft of the poem in which I took pause, but the moment felt right to me. It’s a line against shame, really. The weightiest kind: filial, paternal. Growing up I had a fraught relationship with my father, that of awe, fear, and mystery. But then to adore his body, the masculine physique, to be drawn to it, threw me for a loop, adding a torturous dimension to desire.
