In the Nude book by Logan February

In his engrossing collection, poet Logan February documents and interrogates grief, and God, and examines what it is to be on the outside, even in the family setting–the reality of having a queer identity in the African world.

In this volume, eroticism and manic depression are navigated alone. Some of the poems use a mannequin as a projective tool to dissect self hood, histories, and family connections in the aftermath of a fundamental bereavement. February additionally explores religious concepts to further mythologize the self, collecting Buddhist philosophies and Yoruba proverbs and myths, and putting them adjacent to the toxic tenets of Pentecostal Christianity, which is widespread in Nigeria. In the vein of confessional poetry, the narrative takes its pride in exposing the elements which are deemed taboo and advised to be hidden away. The poems are equally fearful and raunchy, tender and defiant, morose and youthful.

Logan February is a Nigerian poet and the Associate Director of Winter Tangerine’s Dovesong Labs. They and their work have been featured in The Guardian Life, Lambda Literary, Washington Square Review, Africa In Dialogue, The Southeast Review, and more. They are the author of In The Nude (Ouida Poetry, 2019) and two chapbooks.