"Assaracus (say it with me: Ass-UH-rack-us)," writes editor Bryan Borland in his inaugural issue introduction, "came about after a drunken ménage à trois featuring Mouth of the Dragon, Tribe, and Ganymede." Borland goes on to recognize the contributions of many poets and publications, but impresses the need and place for a publication of gay men's poetry: "True, we have Britain's Chroma, which recently announced a restructuring. We have Gay and Lesbian Review - Worldwide, but that publication serves another (necessary) purpose. Then there's Mary: A Literary Quarterly, which gives us a welcome tastes of everything. But what I want to put into the world, because I yearn for it, because I think we need it, is a place for our poetry to dance with its own kind, to stand independently as a genre, just the words on the page and us, gay men, passing the book to our friends. No e-version. No iPhone. Just our fingers touching as we exchange a moment of electricity, a documentation of how we live, a love song through verse, a kinky couplet, a vivid memory, a night of sex with a stranger, and the morning after, when we return to the comfortable familiarity of home."Assaracus, which takes its name from the earth-bound brother of Ganymede, will be a quarterly publication with no set themes or limits on style of poetry, just that the works be authored by gay men.
The first issue features works by Shane Allison, Jay Burodny, Gavin Dillard, Christopher Hennessy, Matthew Hittinger, James Kangas, Raymond Luczak, Frank J Miles, Stephen Scott Mills, and Eric Norris.
Submissions by gay male poets of any age, regardless of background, education, or level of publication experience are welcome.