Most importantly, the book will introduce Matthew Shepard to a generation too young to remember the tragic circumstances of hisdeath. 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. 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.īack matter includes an epilogue, an afterword, explanations of poetic forms, and resources.

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. October Mourning, a novel in verse, is her deeply felt response to the events of that tragic day. Shaken, the author addressed the large audience that gathered, but she remained haunted by Matthew’s murder.

Gay Awareness Week was beginning at the University of Wyoming, and the keynote speaker was Lesléa Newman, discussing her book Heather Has Two Mommies. On the night of October 6, 1998, a gay twenty-one-year-old college student named Matthew Shepard was kidnapped from a Wyoming bar by two young men, savagely beaten, tied to a remote fence, and left to die. A masterful poetic exploration of the impact of Matthew Shepard’s murder on the world.

October Mourning by Lesléa Newman