October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Lesléa Newman (2012 Candlewick Press), $26; 257 pp.; two CD set (Brilliance Audio), $23; 80 mins.
We all know the story. He was outnumbered: Two local boys in a bar with a pitcher of beer. One petite college student, sitting in the same bar, alone. But most of us have never thought of the last hours of Matthew Shepard the way author and poet Lesléa Newman imagines it in this book.
Through a series of freestyle verses, we experience many points of view from people and objects that witnessed Shepard’s last moments. The truck knew that the situation wouldn’t turn out well when the boys lured him into its cab. The road on the way out to the Wyoming vastness thought it had seen everything, but when it noticed Shepard trapped in the truck, it wanted to heave. The clothesline that was used to tie him felt itself tangled. The fence that held him up all night felt he was “heavy as a broken heart.” The fence held on, though, through wind. It cradled him, as his mother would.
Shepard spent 18 hours waiting to be discovered, tied to a fence, with just the wind and deer as companions. When he finally was found, dying, the patrolman thought he’d been crying; the doctor did cry when he saw what was left of the boy. The candle at Shepard’s vigil grieved and armbands stood as one. The fence that held him didn’t mind becoming a shrine.
In the days to follow, as news of Shepard’s death raced around the world, it changed lives: A drag queen went deeper into the closet. A police commander removed gay slurs from his vocabulary. The bartender who served the boys felt regret. Countless students wondered if Shepard’s story could have been their own.
Other drivers must’ve thought I was crazy. There I was, cruising down the highway with tears coating my cheeks, my hand to my mouth. That doesn’t happen often; in fact, few audiobooks have moved me as much as October Mourning. Newman’s sparse words, performed by several actors in varied voices and timbres, bring incredible emotion to her scenarios, offering a book with beauty on one side, horror on the other.
Though grown-ups can — and will — certainly enjoy this audiobook, I think its best audience is young adults who are too young to remember that one night and its aftermath. For them, October Mourning may wake them up.
— Terri Schlichenmeyer
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition March 15, 2013.