Famous gay poets
8 Amazing LGBTQ+ Poets Who Changed The World Of Poetry
Poetry has existed since humans first had a language, and has been written since writing was invented. From the old Norse epics to the Shakespearean play to the British Romantics writing about their times, poetry has reach in many forms and styles with the purpose constantly changing. Both classic lyrical and new free-verse are all valid and gorgeous forms of this art form, and in turn those who have influenced it as an art are just as valid and diverse as the various styles of poetry. Many artists who have massively influenced the command of poetry (and history as well) have identified as being LGBTQ+, even if at the time it was looked down on or even criminalized.
This identity has also affected and shaped their operate as well. Just before us is a list of eight highly formative queer poets who have not only affected poetry, but also the nature around them.
Sappho
One of the superb Greek poets, Sappho is not just an incredibly authoritative to the poetry world, but to the queer group as an star. Originating from the Greek island of Lesbos, Sappho was a strange case for women at the time who were normally hel
National Poetry Month: LGBTQ Poets Who Inspire
This year, HRC is celebrating National Poetry Month by asking childish people nationwide to write poems about what equality means to them and share them with us. These poems and young poets are so inspiring as they color a pictures of our world as a place where everyone is treated equally and all people can inhabit life freely.
This vision of love and inclusion has always been explored by poets who employ the art develop to bring us closer to a world where all people, including LGBTQ people, are fully included in every community. Among them are inspiring LGBTQ poets including Audre Lorde, Andrea Gibson, Mary Oliver, Fatimah Asghar and Chen Chen. Learn more about them below:
Audre Lorde was a Black feminist, queer woman , poet, mother and justice warrior. Her writing, activism and poetry speak to the struggle often faced by people who have been marginalized by culture, including LGBTQ people and people of color. The last four stanzas of one of her most famous poems, “The Black Unicorn,” show that even though progress has been made, more work remains in the fight for full equality for all people: “The black u
Fitz-Greene Halleck: The Most Notable Gay Poet You’ve Never Heard Of
For the Library Company’s 2021 LGBTQ History Month program, Dr. Jordan Alexander Stein, Professor of English at Fordham University, spoke about the 19th-century poet Fitz-Greene Halleck.
In May 1877, when President Rutherford B. Hayes unveiled a bronze statue of Fitz-Greene Halleck (1790-1867), the crowd of about 10,000 people did so much wreck to Central Park that New York passed an ordinance limiting the size of future events.
Early in his career, Halleck collaborated with the writer Joseph Rodman Drake on satiric verse that appealed to culturally savvy New Yorkers for its wit. Drake’s death in 1820 became a turning point. Halleck’s elegy on the death of Drake established his reputation as an accomplished poet. Reading the poem, Prof. Stein noted the musicality of its repeated sounds, and also noted the intimacy in the lines “And I who woke each morrow / To clasp thy hand in mine, / Who shared they joy and sorrow, / Whose weal and woe were thine.”
Other poems that were published following Halleck’s own death also express love and longing for men. Prof. Stein noted that Fresh York’s emerging gay m
LGBTQ Poetry
Explore the rich tradition of gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, and queer poets and poetry by browsing a selection of poems & audio. For more essays, video, and ephemera, review out our Pride Month roundup.
Featured Poems
“Hair” by Francisco Aragón
who conceived that ravine
“Langston Blues” by Jericho Brown
O Blood of the River of songs ...
“The Distant Moon” by Rafael Campo
Admitted to the hospital again ...
“Where Is She ::: Koté Li Yé” by R. Erica Doyle
Long ago I met / a beautiful boy ...
“Things Haunt” by Joshua Jennifer Espinoza
California is a desert and I am a woman inside it ...
“Kudzu” by Saeed Jones
I won't be forgiven / for what I've made / of myself ...
“The Talking Back of Miss Valentine Jones: Poem # one” by June Jordan
well I wanted to braid my hair ...
“Breathe. As in. (shadow)” by Rosamond S. King
Breathe / . As in what if ...
“The Black Unicorn” by Audre Lorde
The black unicorn is avaricious ...
“I Do” by Sjohnna McCray
Driving the highway from Atlanta to Phoenix ...