Spoken poetry about gay
LGBTQ Poetry
Explore the rich tradition of gay, lesbian, bisexual person, transgender, and gender non-conforming poets and poetry by browsing a selection of poems & audio. For more essays, video, and ephemera, verify out our Identity festival 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 stunning boy ...
“Things Haunt” by Joshua Jennifer Espinoza
California is a desert and I am a girl 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 Shadowy Unicorn” by Audre Lorde
The black unicorn is greedy ...
“I Do” by Sjohnna McCray
Driving the road from Atlanta to Phoenix ...
Spoken Word column: 10 Poets for LGBT History Month
Eyup! To identify LGBT History Month, I’ve chosen 10 of my favourite LGBT poets who are currently active on the scene. These are poets whose work is exciting me right now: some of whom are fairly recent discoveries, and some of whom I’m lucky enough to contain shared a stage with. It’s by no means intended to be a definitive ‘best of’ or anything like that. Just 10 voices that I want to champion. Enjoy…
Emanuel Xavier
Antonia Jade King
I can’t fathom how you could come across Antonia’s operate and not instantly decline in love. Her poems tackle the loftiest subjects with incredible intricacy. They don’t wait around for you to make yourself comfortable, but they’ll execute that themselves. Whether it’s womanhood, or family, or not quite fitting in, there’s an ode in there for all of us.
Antonia’s début pamphlet ‘She Too Is a Sailor’ is published by Lousy Betty.
Ella Otomewo
Ella is at the heart of the UK’s thriving and dynamic spoken word poetry scene. A producer, facilitator and activist as well as a poet herself, she’s enabling and encouraging modify with everything she does. As well as existence a member of
MY KIDNAPPER IS Expired, AND MY DADDY'S LITTLE SHY Teen IN ME, IS WITH DAD
DING **** MY KIDNAPPER IS DEAD, THAT IS WHY I ALLOWED TED BUNDY
TO TAKE ME YEAH, I WANTED TO KIDNAP MY KIDNAPPER
HOPING THE Energy WORLD CAN **** MY KIDNAPPER, OH YEAH
I KNOW IT’S ****** HARD, Lead to, THE SCHITZOPHRENIA, WAS GIVING ME THE ****** YRGE
I Set up IT HARD TO RID THE URGE, SO I MADE TED BUNDY’S GHOST TIE ME UP
BUT THIS MADE ME FIGHT MY FATHER, AND FORCE ME ON MEDICATION
WHICH MADE THE NICEST Human, BUT MY KIDNAPPER KEPT COMING BACK
DING **** I WANTED MY KIDNAPPER Lifeless, I KNOW I ANNOYED A LOT OF PEOPLE
TRYING TO GRAB THEM OH YEAH
I GRABBED A FEW SCHOOL MATES, AND THAT IS WHY I WAS TREATED LIKE A YEAH MATE YEAH KID
I WANT TO GET REOFORMED, BUT A VOICE SAID, NO YOUR NOR REFORMED
AND I WORKED AT THE RAINBOW, HELPING THE MENTALLY ILL
AND I FELT LIKE A Joyful CHIRPY COOL KID GOING TO THE BEACH AND BUSHWALKING
AND WORKING IN THE RAINBOW KITCHEN, AND NOBODY WANTED TO TEASE ME
CAUSE I HELPED TO Present THEM A MEAL, I WAS A COOL KID, AND VERY VERY CHIRPY
AND THEN IN 2002, I FELT REALLY CRAZY, THE PARANORMAL SHOVING VOICES IN MY HEAD
WHICH WAS, I WAS THE KID, KILLED BY THE ******, THE AMERICAN
11) The Year Of No Grudges By Andrea Gibson
Excerpt:
“I consider almost everyone tries rigid to do good,
and just finds out too late
they should have tried softer.
I’ve never in my whole life been level headed.
but the older I earn the more level hearted.
And I think we made gods who look appreciate us for a reason
I think, in spite of it all, we trust we can be believed in.
When I don’t believe in myself
I attempt to remember I hold walked on water,
like, 700 times
in Maine in the dead of winter.
Where I come from you can drive
a pick-up truck from one side
of the lake to the other.
And people have an unusually
large amount of missing teeth
and fingers, but you can still sell them
whitening strips and wedding rings
like crazy,
because where I advance from
beauty is in the eye of anyone
who sees what’s missing,
but can’t stop pointing to what’s still there.
If there is no definition for cherish yet
I think that’s a good one.”
Books by Andrea Gibson: Lord of the Butterflies, Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns
The queer community are taking over the spoken pos scene and we are here for it!
BY ASH MANGANARO, IMAGE BY IGREJA DIMENSÃO
Can you hear it? The ruckus of a room filled with reuniting friends. The shameless self-promotion plugs. Pages rustling and rifled through as performers attempt to find their pieces. And then, the spotlight’s glow descends. It fills the room the same way as the emcee’s voice booms. It’s time to take the mic. There’s a erect of snapping fingers and mmmm-ing, and then, the audience’s roar soars…
The above is just a peek through the doorway’s crack at how it feels going to a spoken word poetry night; there’s truly nothing else that emulates this atmosphere. During lockdown I fell brain over heels in care with performance poetry, and for the past year it has completely changed my life.
For those of you unfamiliar and only experience of spoken pos is thisscene from 22 Jump Street, spoken synonyms poetry is quite literally poetry written for the stage. Often competitions called slams are held, a tradition starting out in 1980s Chicago, where poets go head-to-head with one another, a fun way for people to initiate building up thei