This book is a page turner. The story’s emotional charge brings the reader to a specific historical moment, keeps the pace of a mystery, and tells a larger narrative. A Quilt for David will appeal to a wide-range of readers as Reigns’ prose-poetry delivers a compelling, true story.
A key book to compare Quilt to is Maggie Nelson’s Jane: A Murder (Soft Skull 2016). Part elegy, part true crime story, Jane tells the true story of the 1969 murder of Jane Nelson, Maggie’s Nelson’s aunt, by a famous Michigan serial killer. Like Maggie Nelson, Reigns is a well-known poet who, with A Quilt for David, tells a true story using a mixture of poetry and prose. The author doesn’t take poetic license with the material-his narrative is based on facts.
The genre is best described as documentary poetry, as the prose straddles poetry and non-fiction. Author Steven Reigns calls A Quilt for David an AIDS quilt panel for David J Acer; the poems and prose are a patchwork that retell and recreate what happened. It is also an account of gay/HIV scapegoating, and mob mentality. It’s impossible not to make connections between this story and how the twenty-first century pandemic has also been defined by medical misinformation and cultural bias. Since the 90s, David Acer’s story has been one-sided with his accusers landing high profile cover stories in People Magazine and newspaper articles that offered no complexity or nuance. Quilt will appeal to fans of the true crime genre. As discussed in the preface, the author dug deep into researc He sought out interviews with men who David Acer met via personal ads, as well as with family members and friends. Book includes a thorough bibliography including all coverage of the case, plus articles that generally villainized David Acer. Author is an experienced HIV counselor, bringing medical and experiential knowledge to the subject. Reigns is well-connected in the literary and LGBTQ+ He is the inaugural Poet Laureate appointed by the City of West Hollywood, CA. A billboard featuring an excerpt from A Quilt for David and a picture of Steven Reigns is currently up at The West Hollywood Gateway Mall in Los Angeles! (We’ll get a pic posted in Edelweiss) Steven Reigns is an articulate and appealing orator who tells the story of David Acer, on and off the page, with truth, dignity, and grace.
