The Old Ambassador and other Poems

In The old Ambassador and Other Poems, Wayne Courtois gives the reader a sense of the queer experience in America from the onset of the HIV epidemic to current times. This collection displays a mastery of making the personal universal. So often these poems could slip into sentimentality, rants, and political diatribe, but instead Courtois keeps the reader in the poem and, by default, in the poetic moment. His lexicon is often surprising, and his measured use of poetics is sly - opting for slant and internal rhyme instead of predictable hard end rhymes. Whether one flies a rainbow flag or wants to understand better those who do, this collection fills the reader with all of the splendor of being human in a world where one's inclinations towards love can still be opposed, violently, by the dimmest misinformed minds.
~ Shawn Pavey, Survival Tips for the Pending Apocalypse