Scott Bailey grew up in Raleigh, Mississippi, the former home of the National Tobacco Spitting Contest. He comes from a family of preachers and carpenters. Although he spoke in tongues, on the women's side of the altar, at Crossroads Holiness Church, he never learned how to pound a nail. His degrees include a B.A. in English, Summa Cum Laude, an M.A. in Creative Writing from the College of Arts & Letters, The University of Southern Mississippi, an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from New York University, and a Ph.D. in English from Florida State University. He has received fellowships from Florida State University, The Mississippi Arts Commission, New York University, and The Valparaiso Foundation in Spain.

Other poems by Scott Bailey in Verse Daily:
April 28, 2003:  "Fire" "Before the grass comes back green, I burn it..."

Books by Scott Bailey:

Other poems on the web by Scott Bailey:
Two poems
"The Last Supper"
"I Believe in Miracles"
"Death"

Scott Bailey's Blog.

Scott Bailey's Website.

Scott Bailey According to Wikipedia.

About Thus Spake Gigolo:

"The penniless spawn of hell-fire spewing evangelicals, Gigolo hotfoots it to the one city where a young man can get paid as long as he's willing to do anything: New Orleans. A Dante in hot pants and platform heels, Gigolo is at his most moving when he describes the world he came from, one of farm life, jail time, and church, church, church, all in the company of characters so odd that Flannery O'Connor would have shaken her head and said, 'They're too weird for me.' Like cherry bombs, these poems startle, illuminate, and make you cackle with delight as you say, 'Awright! Fire up another!'"
—David Kirby

"Few poets have signaled, from the inside of their debasement, the commerce of the body for sale, leaving out nothing, not even the luciferic joy at the bottom of the well. The chains of Scott Bailey's Gigolo have dragged themselves over the ruined landscape of the city, leaving in their wake the words in this book."
—Andrei Codrescu

"Scott Bailey has a distinctive voice. He is Southern, religious, and a homo speaking about poverty, hard-ons and damnation. His persona Gigolo blew me on every poem. His mouth, I mean, his flexible voice is worthy of your attention."
—Edmund White