James Franco’s Straight James / Gay James

The cover of Straight James/Gay James pictures James Franco in a stare down with a mirror image of himself. Is it “Straight James” eyeball-to-eyeball with “Gay James”? Is this the final confrontational moment? Are we really going to find out? Or is Franco just staring introspectively or suspiciously or whimsically at himself? Or is he just toying with us once again?

What we can see is that James Franco is sporting some faux tattoos created by digital artist Cheyenne Randall. Most noticeably the name “Lana” is tattooed largely on his forehead along with an image of “Lana” on his neck. Could this be Franco’s friend, Lana Del Rey? Is Franco trying to throw us off the scent? No. Well, maybe. The book is dedicated “To the music of Lana Del Rey” and contains a prose poem entitled “Lana Poem Essay.” Confused? Just wait until you read the self-interview “Straight James/Gay James” conducted by “Straight James.”  Yes, Straight James asks Gay James the question: “Let’s get substantial: are you gay or what?” Well, he says it more directly than that; I cleaned it up for the kiddies.

Let us not forget that this is a chapbook of poetry. You know, poetry. Have you read any lately? Probably not. Did you read the Washington Post piece entitled “Poetry is going extinct, government data show”? You can now. When we released the advanced reading copy of Straight James/Gay James, I was struck by the many responses from bloggers, librarians, and casual reviewers. Most read it because it was by James Franco the actor. Most never read poetry. Yes, they liked it! Not 5 out of 5 stars liked it, but most gave it 4 out of 5 stars. I’ll take it. I thank you and James thanks you. These reviewers came to the understanding that James Franco is a poet as well as an actor.

Straight James/Gay James is a collection of must read poetry, and James Franco is a bona fide American poet. His poetic style varies from the imagistic to the prosaic. One of my favorite poems in this chapbook is “Custom Hotel”:

The white sun drops below
The West Side horizon
Like a baby in a chrisom,
Baptized in a sky of blood.

At night: a centipede of lights.

Yes, the poetry is prosaic at times as in the poem about Lana Del Rey entitled “Lana Poem Essay”:

When I watch her stuff, when I listen to her stuff, I am reminded of everything I love about Los Angeles. I am sucked into a long gallery of Los Angeles cult figurines, and cult people, up all night like vampires, and into the sunrise like bikers.

What James Franco has created with Straight James/Gay James is a bildungsroman, a coming of age story. You may feel deceived right about now: you expected to find out if James Franco is straight or gay. Remember the cover. I warned you. This collection of poems is as much about James Franco’s public and private personas as it is about the multiplicity in our own lives. In the final poem entitled “Bildungsromans and Bildungsromans,” Franco admits that he is attracted to this period of growing up, this time of coming of age, this time of confusing and exciting choices:

Youth is a dancer, dancing on a knife,
And below is fire that ages, and marks you.
The elders wait in the fire, looking up at…

Suffice it to say, I’m one of the old guys waiting in the fire looking up. To find out at what, please buy James Franco’s Straight James/Gay James. You’ll enjoy it. Maybe you’ll read more poetry in the future too.

Straight James/Gay James is releasing this week as a trade paperback and as an ebook. The paperback ($12) will be available  from Amazon.com, B&N.com, Books-a-Million, Indie Bound, and other retailers and the ebook ($4.99) is currently available from Amazon.com, Apple iBooks, B&N Nook, and Google Play Books. Ingram, Baker & Taylor, and others will distribute the paperback to the trade and libraries.