May is nestled between April, which is National Poetry Month, and June, which is Pride Month. So I thought I would pay homage to the intersection of these months and highlight LGBTQ+ poets.
"I worried a lot. Will the garden grow, will the rivers
flow in the right direction, will the earth turn
as it was taught, and if not how shall
I correct it?
Was I right, was I wrong, will I be forgiven,
can I do better?"
— from "I Worried" by Mary Oliver, found in her collection Devotions
"Finally, I saw that worrying had come to nothing.
And gave it up. And took my old body
and went out into the morning,
and sang."
— also from "I Worried"
Halal if You Hear Me
Published in 2019
The collected poems dispel the notion that there is one correct way to be a Muslim by holding space for multiple, intersecting identities while celebrating and protecting those identities.
Poems
Published in 2011
The Tradition
Published in 2019
When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities
Published in 2017
"In this ferocious and tender debut, Chen Chen investigates inherited forms of love and family -- the strained relationship between a mother and son, the cost of necessary goodbyes -- all from Asian American, immigrant, and queer perspectives. Holding all accountable, this collection fully embraces the loss, grief, and abundant joy that come with charting one's own path in identity, life, and love. When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities. To be a season of laughter when my father says his coworker is like that, he can tell because the guy wears pink socks, see, you don't, so you can't, you can't be one of them. To be the one my parents raised me to be. A season from the stormiest planet. A very good feeling with a man. Every feeling, in pink shoes. Every step, hot pink."-- Provided by publisher.
You Better Be Lightning
Published in 2021
A queer, political, and feminist collection guided by self-reflection. The poems range from close examination of the deeply personal to the vastness of the world, exploring the expansiveness of the human experience from love to illness, from space to climate change, and so much more in between. One of the most celebrated poets and performers of the last two decades, Andrea Gibson's trademark honesty and vulnerability are on full display in You Better Be Lightning, welcoming and inviting readers to be just as they are.
The Essential June Jordan
Published in 2021
"A collection drawn from June Jordan's previous books"-- Provided by publisher.
Devotions
The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
Published in 2017
"Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver presents a personal selection of her best work in this definitive collection spanning more than five decades of her esteemed literary career. Throughout her celebrated career, Mary Oliver has touched countless readers with her brilliantly crafted verse, expounding on her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things. Identified as "far and away, this country's best selling poet" by Dwight Garner, she now returns with a stunning and definitive collection of her writing from the last fifty years. Carefully curated, these 200 plus poems feature Oliver's work from her very first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems, published in 1963 at the age of 28, through her most recent collection, Felicity, published in 2015. This timeless volume, arranged by Oliver herself, showcases the beloved poet at her edifying best. Within these pages, she provides us with an extraordinary and invaluable collection of her passionate, perceptive, and much-treasured observations of the natural world"-- Provided by publisher.
Felicity
Published in 2016
"Mary Oliver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, celebrates love in her new collection of poems,"--Amazon.com.
