Gravity by Ari Lohr
Review by Joe Haward April 2023
Published by Gutslut Press (Twitter @gutslutpress Website https://linktr.ee/gutslutpress)
Content Warning: violence, rape
5/5
Scientists at NASA tell us that no-one knows what gravity fundamentally “is,” only that we know how it behaves. So whilst we can observe the way gravity functions upon objects, or bodies, or particles, we don’t know what gravity actually is. This knowledge can be very confusing because we are so aware of gravity’s impact upon our lives; if we drop a slice of toast, it will fall to the ground; the tide comes in and goes out every day; rain falls to the earth. Indeed, such is the familiarity of gravity’s impact, we rarely, if ever, think about it in any meaningful way, rather, we live according to the limits it imposes upon us.
In many ways our inner pain operates in a very similar way.
Our lives shift and orientate themselves according to the pain and trauma we have experienced as we often find ourselves traversing the limits within which we can remain safe enough. For some of us we don’t fundamentally know what our pain actually “is”; any clue to our pain is discovered through our behaviors. It takes people outside us to point out that the way we emotionally respond to situations is a direct result of the pain we have internalized. In other words, we can see what pain is doing, but we don’t know what it is.
In Gravity, Ari Lohr, reaching back through his own space and time, seeks to help the reader understand what his pain is, whilst simultaneously revealing the homophobic pain he and others have gone through. Lohr calls us to pay attention to the violence done to him and other queer bodies, the way lives are destroyed in the otherness of bigotry and hate.
There is a deep vulnerability and rawness to Lohr’s work, refusing to flinch or turn away from reality, holding the face of the reader to lived experience, however unsettling it might be. This is why Gravity needs to be read widely. It is not simply a work of beautiful poetry and prose, weaving itself through your being, but a reminder that the very best work evolves from our darkest and most passionate places.
And it is passion that binds these pieces together, fused within the shimmer of hope. Gravity is, at its very heart, a story of hope, a belief that the human capacity to love will win through. Eventually.
Divided into four parts — i. Love ii. Rape iii. Death iv. Nothing — there is a wonderful variety of styles throughout Gravity. Lohr purposefully plays with structure and form to not only share his story, but to also engage the reader in the process, taking them on their own journey. This is not a collection to be read dispassionately. The section on Lohr’s own rape is remarkable in its honesty, giving voice to the violence done to him, whilst also cleverly fading words in and out of focus to bring the reader into that place of disassociation that Lohr speaks of through his ordeal.
I’m looking forward to keeping an eye on where Lohr’s talents take him next.
You can find Ari Lohr on Twitter @arilohr or visit arilohr.com