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Forrest Robert Stepnowski is an advocate, writer, social worker, and performance artist in the Pacific Northwest. He has been writing poetic works and prose for most of his life. He realized how important it would be to share his work with others, who may have tread similar paths of self-hate, self-deprecation, and self-loathing, in the hopes that they find they weren’t alone. Helping others who have been deemed as “different” because of varying sexual orientations or identities to realize that they are not deviants nor are they “against human nature” has always been of grave importance to him. He wants this group of beautiful people to know they are part of a collective, on an island where being different is embraced and accepted.
Everyone has a voice and the world would be lucky to experience them all.
Forrest is a member of Rave Reviews Book Club. Follow Forrest on various social media formats as well
Reviewed by Rabia Tanveer for Readers' Favorite
Bound: The Lost Romanticism and Eroticism of Gay Men by Forrest Robert Stepnowski is a collection of poems that will give you hope there is someone out there for you. Gay love has been romanticized so much over the years that it has become almost a fantasy for many people. This collection of poems brings reality back to the people who belong to the LGBTQ community. Raw and full of emotions, these poems evoke the desperation and the need to find love. In fact, all the poems talk about love in its purest and the most realistic form that one could hope to find. My absolute favorites have to be “Asking for a Friend,” “In the Beginning,” “How Do We Know,” “Dear Love” and “Cravings.” These told a different story of a romance at its different stages. Every poem had a theme that was different from the others, yet it felt like the author was telling a story.
It was as if I was reading a lyrical novel where the protagonists are discovering their sexuality, coming to terms with it, falling in love with it, falling in love with the person, and then craving the other person to love them back just as much. What is most beautiful about these poems is that you don’t have to be a member of the LGBTQ community to be able to find a connection with these little gems. You just have to be a person who is struggling to find love or is trying to break free of the illusions we have created around what love is supposed to be. This collection is emotional and so real.
