‘H’ by Jim Elledge
When Walt Whitman declared, “Through
Eloise Klein Healy: The Poet Laureate of Los Angeles
“Part of my larger plan is to convey and bring forth a larger literary picture of Los Angeles.”
Earlier this month, renowned lesbian poet Eloise Klein Healy was selected by Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to be the city’s first poet laureate. Healy took a moment to talk with Lambda about the position of poet laureate and what she hopes to accomplish within the position.
‘Music for Porn’ by Rob Halpern
Music for Porn (Nightboat Books) is a linguistic symphony of the fetishization and politicization of the body of the “soldier” and an exploration of intimacy and desire.
‘States of Independence’ by Michael Klein and ‘The Pillow Book’ by Jee Leong Koh
Chapbooks are often a prelude,
The Poem. The Poet. The People. Queer Women Poets On The Road: Revival 2012.
“A salon-styled tour of queer women artists, The Revival, is a literary search for those people, those women like me who don’t quite fit in where we’re supposed to. With dynamic performances from poets and musicians alike, The Revival weaves a night of artistry, libations and genuine fellowship. “
‘Black Marks on White Paper’ by Michelle Antoinette Nelson (Love the Poet)
On the page, Love’s poems remind you that rhyme is the root word for rhythm. Contemporary poetry may have long shied away from the limits of rhyme, but Love’s wordplay is refreshing, executed with precision and a clear, performable quality. All of her poems have a direct relationship with their audience, relying on a rich sense of community instead of any writer-reader barrier.
Nikky Finney: Heart, Truth, and Justice
Nikky Finney is an award-winning, southern-born poet, whose critically acclaimed work is imbued with a distinct sense of lyricism and recurring themes of both social justice and communal history.
She was recently awarded the 2011 National Book Award for her latest collection Head Off & Split. Finney took some time to talk with Lambda Literary Review about her now famous National Book Award speech, shoe shopping with Condoleezza Rice, and the dividing line between art and rhetoric.
‘Cow’ by Susan Hawthorne
Red cow, blue cow, black cow. A golden calf and a moon-jumping heifer. Figures that often grace pastoral landscapes or children’s books have wandered into the realm of poetry. Susan Hawthorne’s latest collection, Cow, blends the bovine figure with ancient mythologies to re-envision history for modern women.
Queer Spirituality: What Can Poetry Tell Us? A Conversation with Julie Enszer and Kevin Simmonds
Gay and lesbians have long had a complex and often conflicted relationship with organized religion, sometimes facing exclusion—or worse. But at the same time there is a long history of gay people trying to understand queerness as a divine gift or turning to spirituality to celebrate their love for each other.
