EXALTATION: A Space Opera, by Matthew Buxton

Poetry, chapbook, 28 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

EXALTATION: A Space Opera is an inverted heroic crown of sonnets queering form to reconstruct, redefine, and reclaim the exclusionary Mormon afterlife. In the Mormon faith, Exaltation is the culminating event in Elohim’s (God’s) divine plan. Depending on one’s faithfulness and adherence to Mormon standards on Earth, the purest will be exalted to gods with the ability to build and rule their own worlds while living with their families for eternity.

In this sequence, the speaker is flung into outer space post-resurrection as he grapples with the powers of creation, the remnants of his fractured family, and the void of eternal existence. Epic in scope and narrative, EXALTATION: A Space Opera creates space on the page for queer identities. Space in poetic tradition. Space in religious tradition. Space in family. Space even in outer space. It is a multi-dimensional depiction of selfhood: warning of the dangers of tradition and insisting poetry is a form of reclamation.

Matthew Buxton is a queer writer originally from Salt Lake City. His recent work appears or is forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, Chicago Review, The Spectacle, & Change, Court Green, and Frozen Sea, which nominated him for a Pushcart Prize. He holds an MFA from the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan. His work has also been recognized by the Fine Arts Work Center and the Vermont Studio Center. He now lives and teaches in Chicago.