October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard

by Lesléa Newman Narrated by Emily Beresford, Luke Daniels, Christina Traister, Kate Rudd, Lesléa Newman, Nick Podehl, Tom Parks

Overview

On the night of October 6, 1998, a gay twenty-one-year-old college student named Matthew Shepard was lured from a Wyoming bar by two young men, savagely beaten, tied to a remote fence, and left to die.

Gay Awareness Week was beginning at the University of Wyoming, and the keynote speaker was Lesléa Newman, discussing her book Heather Has Two Mommies. Shaken, the author addressed the large audience that gathered, but she remained haunted by Matthew's murder.

October Mourning, a novel in verse, is her deeply felt response to the events of that tragic day. Using her poetic imagination, the author creates fictitious monologues from various points of view, including the fence Matthew was tied to, the stars that watched over him, the deer that kept him company, and Matthew himself.

More than a decade later, this stunning cycle of sixty-eight poems serves as an illumination for readers too young to remember, and as a powerful, enduring tribute to Matthew Shepard's life.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Just days after 21-year-old Matthew Shepard was killed in 1998, Newman (Heather Has Two Mommies) visited his school, the University of Wyoming, as the keynote speaker for its Gay Awareness Week. Writing from this personal viewpoint, Newman crafts 68 poems, imagining the perspectives of Shepard, his convicted killers, the stars above, the fence to which he was tied, a nearby deer, and many more. Despite the variety of voices and poetic forms Newman uses (haiku, pantoum, villanelle, and others), the poems read as a somewhat repetitive chorus of rage, shame, and disgust (“I can take anything/ I’m tough as time/ But when I saw him/ between the two of them/ trapped in that truck/ it made me want to heave,” says the road). It’s a visceral, painful read, but it’s difficult to say how singsongy couplets from Shepard’s cat (“Where is the boy? Will he ever be back?/ I’m cold and I’m lonely and I need a snack”) or a punny offering from the rope used to bind him (“They roped me in/ I was fit to be tied”) make this tragedy more real. Ages 14–up. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

Written with love, anger, regret, and other profound emotions, this is a truly important book that deserves the widest readership, not only among independent readers but among students in a classroom setting, as well. Most importantly, the book will introduce Matthew Shepard to a generation too young to remember the tragic circumstances of hisdeath.
—Booklist (starred review)

Newman’s language serves the voices well, the poems always simple, accessible, and moving.
—The Horn Book

These poems are sure to instill much-needed empathy and awareness to gay issues in today’s teens.
—Kirkus Reviews

Newman deploys a wide range of poetic forms, including pantoums, villanelles, haiku, and concrete poems, but all share jagged rhythms and a biting sense of grief and helplessness.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

This title is perfect for any secondary library; it is a brilliant example of various poetic forms and deals with several issues from a variety of perspectives. This book is incredibly thought-provoking and will have a gut-wrenching impact on the reader and discussion groups alike.
—Library Media Connection (highly recommended)

Newman’s verse is both masterful and steady-handed. Each poem is beautiful in its subtle sophistication.
—School Library Journal

Newman is an impressive poet, and the collection, in addition to memorializing Matthew Shepard, is a call to action to let go of hatred and make sure nothing like this ever happens again. The book packs an emotional punch, and the skillfully crafted poems will make me never doubt Newman’s ability to handle a subject this brutal again. I think that she may be a genius.
—The Hub (YALSA blog)

Does the work of preserving the atrocities of history while firmly offering a vision of choosing life. Refusing to let Shepard fade into oblivion, abstraction, statistic, or symbol, Newman here reminds us that the impulse to repair the world requires imagination as well as concrete memory.
—Lilith Magazine

OCTOBER MOURNING is a stunning, poignant collection of poems that paints a picture of an event that none of us can ever afford to turn away from.
—ALAN YA blog

This is a stunning reminder of what is lost as the result of bigotry and hatred.
—The ALAN Review

School Library Journal - Audio

Gr 9 Up—Matthew Shepard was a 21-year-old gay student attending the University of Wyoming in 1998 when he was beaten, tied up, and left to die. Less than a week after this horrendous hate crime, Newman was a keynote speaker at the University's National Coming Out Day. In the years that followed his murder, she continued to ponder the incident and pray for the young gay man whose life was cut short. In October Mourning (Candlewick, 2012), she offers 68 poems that form a kind of historical novel. Told from the perspectives of Shepard, his family, his attackers, his friends, his teachers, and others, the poems provide a gauzy outline of the incident and its aftermath. This tribute to Shepard will be best understood by those who are familiar with the crime because some of the poems are quite abstract or tangential to the main facts. For students studying the case in depth or anyone trying to understand senseless violence, Newman provides a path to peace and healing. With LGBT bullying and related suicides occurring at an alarming rate, this important book has a place in every school and public library.—Bernie Morrissey, The Harker School, San Jose, CA

School Library Journal

Gr 9 Up—Matthew Shepard, a gay college student, died nearly 14 years ago, of wounds inflicted during a violent beating. Just before his brutal attack, he and other students had been planning a Gay Awareness Week; Newman was the keynote speaker at this event, which took place a week after the assault. Through 68 poems, she captures facets of the event that were likely never uncovered before. The poems' fictitious narrators, ranging from Matthew's cat to hateful frat boys at nearby Colorado State to the fence on which Shepard was abandoned, appear and then return later as the narrative unfolds. What impact will the depiction of such an event have on today's teens, many of whom were just born at the time of its occurrence? Put simply-a tremendous impact. Newman's verse is both masterful and steady-handed. Each poem is beautiful in its subtle sophistication. The overarching narrative will be appreciated most by readers who have read a brief overview of what happened to Matthew, but those who haven't will certainly be inspired to do so immediately following. Many teens will see how very far we've come, while others will see how far we still have to go. Either way, the book will be a valuable addition to poetry and fiction collections.Jill Heritage Maza, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJ

OCTOBER 2012 - AudioFile

On October 6, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a gay 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming, was viciously beaten, tied to a fence, and left to die. Author Newman’s intimate reaction to this tragedy, a heartrending collection of 68 poems, is narrated by an outstanding cast. The narrators expertly carry the weight of the poems, excelling on verses that combine more than one voice. The poems present unique perspectives, including those of the fence, the moon, the road, even Matthew’s cat. Beautifully articulated, the quiet spaces in each poem add to the emotion, evoking a vast starry sky of memory and loss not soon to be forgotten. Intense, moving, and haunting—a must-listen for ages 14+. E.A.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award, 2013 Audies Finalist, SYNC 2014 © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Nearly 14 years after the unspeakable tragedy that put Laramie, Wyo., on the hate crimes map, lesbian literary icon Newman offers a 68-poem tribute to Matthew Shepard. Readers who were infants on October 6, 1998, may learn here for the first time how the 21-year-old Shepard was lured from a bar by two men who drove him to the outskirts of town, beat him mercilessly, tied him to a fence and left him to die. Ironically, months before Shepard's murder, Newman had been invited to Laramie to speak at the University of Wyoming's Gay Awareness Week and actually delivered her keynote address on the day he died. This cycle of poems, meant to be read sequentially as a whole, incorporates Newman's reflections on Shepard's killing and its aftermath, using a number of common poetic forms and literary devices to portray the events of that fateful night and the trial that followed. While the collection as a whole treats a difficult subject with sensitivity and directness, these poems are in no way nuanced or subtle. For example, Newman repeatedly employs personification to make inanimate objects, such as the fence, road, clothesline and truck, unwitting accessories to the crime, and she imitates William Carlos Williams' "This Is Just to Say" false-apology format no fewer than four times with mixed results. Though somewhat heavyhanded, these poems are sure to instill much-needed empathy and awareness to gay issues in today's teens. (Poetry. 14 & up)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173811127
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	09/25/2012
Edition description:	Unabridged

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