Super gay poems LGBTQIA+ poetry after Stonewall

In this well selected and compulsively readable anthology, Harvard English professor Burt (We Are Mermaids) presents 51 poems that address and exemplify queerness in America. In the introduction, Burt explains that she chose to only include poems published post-1969, establishing the year of the Stonewall riots as the inception of modern queer identity. She additionally provides helpful context for each poem in an accompanying essay. The anthology moves chronologically, beginning with Frank O'Hara's "Homosexuality," which addresses closeted life in its opening line, "So we are taking off our masks, are we, and keeping/ our mouths shut." From the 1990s to the 2000s, the anthology introduces an increasing number of poets of trans and other gender identities, including the glorious ode to genderqueer sex "Suits and Ties" by Samuel Ace. Danez Smith's 2022 poem "Waiting for You to Die So I Can Be Myself" picks up where O'Hara left off, articulating the strain of hiding one's true self: "i want to say something without saying it/ but there's no time. i'm waiting for a few folks/ i love dearly to die so i can be myself." Burt's insightful commentary draws through lines between eras and poets, making this a valuable text for the classroom and a dynamic and comprehensive collection for casual readers of contemporary poetry. (Apr.)

Burt (English, Harvard Univ.; Don't Read Poetry) provides significant history and insight into queer poetics in this anthology, which not only offers her thoughts about and analysis of the included poems (by poets such as Frank O'Hara, Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, and Danez Smith), but also includes brief biographies of each of the authors and explains how earlier poets may have influenced the ones who came after them. Surveying both time and content, Burt explains poetry mechanics and how LGBTQIA+ history has changed, or in some cases, stayed the same over time. In her commentary on Paul Monette's poem "The Worrying," Burt points out the similarities and differences between the HIV/AIDs epidemic and the COVID pandemic, writing: "But in the years when Monette wrote Love Alone, these kinds of worries might have seemed beyond comprehension for heterosexual, nondisabled readers: readers who thought they were safe." VERDICT This deft and thoughtful anthology of poems about queerness is a strong addition to any library collection.--Autumn West