The Reading Series: Lonely Christopher's 'Grown Ups'

Our identifies are shaped by our perceptions of the world, and how we react when our world is changed. In Lonely Christopher's video poem, "Grown Ups," which is a translation of Shakespeare's Sonnet 24, the speaker attaches himself to his lover by writing his name on him: "I took your hand / And with a razor blade I carved my name." This is a physical declaration of the speaker's affection for his lover. The speaker then begins to perceive less of the world around him: "Presently we reclined in the warm grass / And closed our eyes to look at our red lids / You said something I couldn't hear at last." He binds himself to his lover and his world starts to fade. When the lover jumps from the Eiffel Tower, the speaker's name goes with him, and he gives himself a new name: Lonely Christopher.

Grown Ups from Zachary de la Fox on Vimeo.

Lonely Christopher is a poet and filmmaker. He is the author of the short story collection The Mechanics of Homosexual Intercourse, which was a 2011 selection of Dennis Cooper's Little House on the Bowery imprint of Akashic Books. His book of poetry, Death and Disaster Series, is forthcoming from Monk Books. His plays have been produced in New York City and China. He wrote and directed the feature film MOM (Cavazos Films, 2013) and his stories have been adapted for the screen in Canada and France. He lives in Brooklyn.