Poems to Stage Dive to
by Adam Gainforcaro
“A vivid celebration of queerness and a mosh pit of self-discovery.”
—nat raum, editor-in-chief of fifth wheel press and author of with gasoline
The poetry chapbook Poems to Stage Dive examines the journey of self-acceptance and queer joy through the often hostile environment of hardcore punk music and live shows.
About the Author
Adam Gianforcaro is the author of the poetry collection Every Living Day (Thirty West, 2023). His poems can be found in The Offing, Foglifter, Poet Lore, Muzzle Magazine, Northwest Review, and elsewhere. He lives in Delaware.
Approximately 36 pages
Publication date: April 21, 2026
ISBN: 979-8-89692-791-4
Praise for Poems to Stage Dive to
“Gianforcaro mixes the plosives of moshpit elbows with the assonance of orchestra strings and a voice that climbs to shatter glass only to dip low enough to resurrect the dead.
Devil hands in the air: these poems rock. ‘Let us all // grow hoarse with empathy.’”
—Todd Dillard, author of Ragnarök at the Father-Daughter Dance
“Poems to Stage Dive to has honored the high rule of hardcore: don't forget your roots. Birthed in a pit where the rules are violent but respected, finding safety in the outside world is where the lines get distorted. Scratching out an identity between the basement walls, the floors get sweatier, the crowds get angrier, and each closed fist that aims right for the heart will make you ask, "Is he going to get up this time?" Yet somehow, the harder the hit, the faster Gianforcaro is back on his feet.”
– Scott Laudati, author of Play the Devil
“Pure hardcore savagery disguised as a series of luminous snapshots of people finding themselves amidst the violence.”
—Nick Gregorio, author of Jen & Gary’s Infinite (Quantum) Entanglements
“A vivid celebration of queerness and a mosh pit of self-discovery.”
—nat raum, editor-in-chief of fifth wheel press and author of with gasoline
“An electric, bruising, healing book...fierce and wondrously alive.”
—Catherine Pierce, author of Foxes for Everybody and Danger Days
"Adam Gianforcaro’s Poems to Stage Dive To captures the exhaustion and exhilaration of the pit, of stage-diving, and falling to be caught. A tough and tender ode to the crowd to belong with and disappear in, this collection revels in the anonymity and tacit pacts of the pit alongside the simultaneous brutality and blessing of queerness...Whether you’re a lifelong punk or new to the poetry scene, Poems to Stage Dive To is a joy to dive into again and again."
—Alison Lubar, author of Philosophers Know Nothing About Love, queer feast, sweet euphemism, It Skips a Generation, METAMOURPHOSIS, The Other Tree, and American Kintsugi