Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Charles Harper Webb’s "Cocksucker" is a deeply personal and socially reflective poem that confronts the evolution of homophobic slurs, internalized biases, and the complexities of love, friendship, and regret. Through a first-person narrative, Webb chronicles his journey from childhood ignorance and casual bigotry to a poignant realization of love and loss. The poem operates as both a confessional and a plea, exposing the speaker’s past prejudices while ultimately seeking redemption through a posthumous act of compassion.

The poem begins with a stark reflection on the word itself, cocksucker, placing it alongside motherfucker as one of the “World’s Most Disgusting Thing[s].” This introduction immediately immerses the reader in a world where language, particularly homophobic slurs, dictates social hierarchies and perceptions. The speaker recalls childhood assumptions about masculinity, noting that a boy who struggled with sports or spoke with a lisp was often labeled with a slew of derogatory terms—fairy, fruitcake, queen, queer, pansy, homo, flaming fag. This relentless string of insults illustrates how deeply ingrained homophobia was in the speaker’s youth, shaping both his worldview and his interactions. His insistence that such boys “didn’t mean he would do that” highlights an early, naïve distinction between effeminacy and homosexuality, an attempt to rationalize prejudice within the speaker’s childhood understanding.

The speaker’s own defense of this belief system invites suspicion from others, who in turn question his sexuality, leading him to prove his masculinity through violence—using the “right cross-left hook” his father taught him. This reference to paternal influence suggests that the societal norms surrounding masculinity and aggression were not only absorbed from peers but reinforced within the home. The act of fighting becomes a way to distance himself from any perceived association with the slur, mirroring the toxic performativity expected of young men navigating their own identities.

The poem then shifts to adolescence, when the speaker first begins to question the certainty of his childhood views. Sammy Blevins, a choir teacher, publicly repents for his past as “an evil sodomite,” a declaration that initially prompts derision (“Jesus Gonzales, jokers sneered”) but ultimately plants a seed of doubt. The speaker acknowledges for the first time that “cocksuckers must be real,” but his understanding remains abstract, filtered through religious shame rather than empathy or lived experience.

It is not until the speaker meets Del Delancey, his bandmate in The Delmations, that the concept of homosexuality is humanized. The friendship between the two develops naturally—fishing, songwriting, and sharing hotel rooms on tour. Yet, subtle clues distinguish Del from the others: while the speaker brings women into his room, Del does not. When the band dissolves, Del’s emotional confession, “I love you, Chuck,” forces the speaker into an uncomfortable confrontation with his ingrained biases. Del’s tears and the phrase “certain I’d hate him” reveal the weight of internalized shame, as Del expects the speaker’s rejection. The metaphor of “the hot iron boiling in his gut” conveys the pain of suppressing one’s true self, while the reference to Grimm’s fairy tales—where an unkillable giant hides his heart in a dark well—suggests that Del, too, has buried his emotional core in an attempt to survive.

The speaker’s response is telling: “It’s no big deal, Del.” He offers reassurance but simultaneously “edged away.” This physical withdrawal undercuts his words, exposing his lingering discomfort. Del later writes from Mexico, describing his experiences with men in crude language—“They do it up the Hershey highway like I like it”—a line that could be interpreted as either a provocation or a means of reclaiming power over his identity. The speaker wonders if Del’s phrasing is intended to punish him, but regardless of the intent, Del disappears from his life, reduced to a painful memory “folded and packed into the chest where I keep painful things safe and out of sight.”

The poem’s final movement marks a profound shift. A seemingly innocuous joke about misheard words (“a cork soaker, a Coke stocker, and a sock cutter”) unexpectedly reopens the speaker’s wounds, leading to a candid moment with his wife. Her casual declaration—“A good cocksucker’s what I pray to be”—contrasts sharply with the fear and stigma that once surrounded the term in the speaker’s past. This remark triggers a heartfelt prayer for Del, one filled with compassion, longing, and an overdue acknowledgment of love. The speaker pleads with God to guide Del “safely through the long valley of AIDS,” an implicit acknowledgment of the epidemic that disproportionately affected gay men during the latter half of the 20th century. The prayer envisions an idyllic future for Del: “Give him health, a hacienda, and a man who worships him and does everything he likes.” The imagery here—a home, love, acceptance—presents a counterbalance to the suffering Del endured.

The poem concludes with a final message, directed to Del through “dream, telepathy, vision, it’s up to You,” reinforcing the idea that the speaker’s remorse is both belated and intangible, reliant on forces beyond his control. The climactic line—“Del, my friend, you cocksucker, I loved you too”—is both shocking and tender. By reclaiming the word cocksucker in a context of love rather than insult, the speaker acknowledges the full humanity of his friend. The phrase, once weaponized against Del, is now used as an affirmation, a sign that the speaker has moved beyond his past prejudices and sees Del not as a label, but as a person he loved.

"Cocksucker" is a powerful meditation on language, prejudice, and personal growth. Webb traces a trajectory from ignorance to understanding, capturing the nuances of masculinity, friendship, and the cultural forces that shape both. The poem does not offer easy redemption—Del is gone, and the speaker’s transformation comes too late for reconciliation. Yet, in its raw honesty and emotional reckoning, the poem serves as a deeply moving tribute to a lost friend, a recognition of past failings, and a testament to the ways in which love, even when unspoken, lingers beyond death.

Copyright (c) 2025 PoetryExplorer

Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!

Other Poems of Interest...