Let Other Hounds: Poems Breaking Silence Fifty Years After Sexual Abuse at Church

Betrayed by a trusted adult, an isolated boy holds his Argos close and whispers the truth into that floppy hound's ear. Let Other Hounds is a debut collection mapping the journey of that shamed boy of ten as he moves courageously through a decade of terror toward freedom. Scott LaMascus breaks silence as an accomplished husband and father who has learned much about the aftermath of boyhood sexual abuse. After fifty years, it is a courageous and stunning gathering of words held close and distilled into poems which speak difficult truths still feared, denied, and often faced with ambivalence or even recriminations. The poems are driven by force of shattered boyhood-profound sadness, burning anger, isolation and much darkness. Yet the poet fearlessly dives down to that wreck, seeking language and metaphor to brave the perilous ascent back to the sparkling surface of life-toward healing, joy, love and boldness. The poems surprise again and again, but remain grounded in specific place, time, family, and canine companionship. The poems move readers through an experience like that of as many as one in six men in the U.S. Along this arduous path lie toxic masculinity, challenges of agency, the heroism of individual and collective action, the imposters of regret and anger, and the search for solidarity and respect for others who delay telling their stories not just to survive, but to thrive.