The Goodbye Game

"Grief is a door that widens into a playful road."
In The Goodbye Game, queer trans poet Courtney Stanton (Patience) turns delayed mourning into art, structuring this chapbook as a funeral for his estranged father—a man who died by suicide days before the pandemic began. These poems, written over three years of deferred grief, confront inherited trauma, eroticized violence, and the absurdity of healing in a collapsing world:- Eulogies That Refuse Silence: From Grindr encounters with a ghostly father (Daddy) to Polish Catholic weddings (Thoughts on... South Boston), Stanton interrogates the lies families tell to survive.- Queer Reckoning: Survival as rebellion, whether fleeing incest ("You are the worst boyfriend I have ever had") or finding God in herons and noise shows (Two Herons).- Pandemic Ghosts: Funerals for strangers in ambulance bays (Eulogy Attempt III) and the collective grief of "ignoring our dead" (Survival Poem).
Stanton's voice swings between lyrical rage and tender absurdity. In Fool Me Twice, a post-breakup text chain becomes a ritual of self-harm: "the hook is buried—in me the fool too sad to cut it out." In The Knife You Became, a lover's betrayal mirrors ancestral wounds: "each gentle memory an injury now." Yet amid the rubble, hope flickers—a prayer for "those who want to survive / not pretend a grave is the same as my bed" (Survival Poem).
Perfect for readers who:- Crave unflinching queer trauma narratives (à la All the Flowers Kneeling by Paul Tran)- Seek poetry that blends confessionalism with dark humor (The Carrying by Ada Limón)- Survived family estrangement or complex grief- Appreciate DIY zine aesthetics and fragmented forms
Content warnings: Incest, sexual assault, suicide, parental abuse.
Praise for Courtney's work:- "Stanton writes like a surgeon suturing scars—painful, precise, and profoundly necessary." —Miranda Schmidt, Leafskin- "A masterclass in turning generational ghosts into art." —Nozlee Samadzadeh-Hadidi, editor
Includes stark, minimalist design and a candid author note on delayed mourning.

Courtney Stanton is an extravagantly queer trans writer and actor in Portland, OR. His writing has previously appeared in Buzzfeed, Jezebel, Wired, and more quote-tweets than he would prefer. He's previously published three poetry chapbooks: The Goodbye Game, Patience, and Schatzi. He blogs with ever-increasing enthusiasm at superopinionated.com.