The current administration has many LGBTQI+ folks frightened, angry and out in the street, but for many of us, these actions are only the latest in a long line of offenses placed before us by government, business and hegemonic western culture. For Queer poets of color, American racism is nothing new. For broke poets, poverty wages and union busting are familiar songs. For poets with disabilities, ableism often seems universal. The poetry that explodes from beneath this weight is the poetry of an...
The current administration has many LGBTQI+ folks frightened, angry and out in the street, but for many of us, these actions are only the latest in a long line of offenses placed before us by government, business and hegemonic western culture. For Queer poets of color, American racism is nothing new. For broke poets, poverty wages and union busting are familiar songs. For poets with disabilities, ableism often seems universal. The poetry that explodes from beneath this weight is the poetry of anger and resistance that keeps many of us alive. This is punk poetry, queer poetry, rage poetry, political poetry, survivor poetry and personal poetry from folks not content with the status quo of mainstream culture or popular LGBT discourse.
Tyler Vile is the author of Never Coming Home (Topside Press, 2015), a novel-in-verse. Also a spoken word poet and a disability advocate, Vile is vocal about her experience as a transwoman with cerebral palsy, and her work has been featured online in Gadfly and Bluestockings Magazine, among other publications. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
Francisco-Luis White is an agender, AfroLatinx writer, poet and storyteller currently residing in District of Columbia. They have presented at the Carolina Conference on Queer Youth (2014 and 2015), Fire & Ink Conference for LGBTQ Writers of African Descent (2015), and the United States Conference on AIDS (2014). In 2015, they were recognized by National Black Justice Coalition as an SGL/LGBTQ Emerging Leader to Watch and one of Qnotes Faces of The Future. White is a contributor to TheBody.com and for HIV Equal.
Anthony Moll is a queer poet, essayist and educator. Anthony reviews books and writes about Queer life for Baltimore City Paper. His creative work has appeared in Gertrude Journal, Assaracus, jubilat and more. Anthony holds an MFA in Creative Writing &Publishing Arts, and he teaches writing at University of Baltimore. His work was included in Incoming, an anthology of work from military veterans, and his chapbook, Go to the Ant, O Sluggard, is available now from Akinoga Press.
Wendy Oleson is the author of Our Daughter and Other Stories, winner of the 2017 Rachel Wetzsteon Chapbook Award (Map Literary). Her poems, stories, and hybrid text have appeared recently in Cimarron Review, Calyx, Copper Nickel, and elsewhere. She teaches for the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program and the WSU-TriCities English department and serves as editorial staff for Fairy Tale Review and Memorious Magazine. Wendy lives in Eastern Washington with her wife and their irrepressibly-delightful dog, Winston.
Xemiyulu Manibusan is a Salvadoran Nawat Two-Spirit Non-Binary Transgender Womxn. She is a poet, playwright, director, actor, educator, and the Artistic Director of Teatro de la Septima/Seventh Generation Theatre. Xemi has presented with GALA Hispanic Theatre, New Native Theatre, The Puppet Company, Smithsonian’s Discovery Theatre, Faction of Fools, Adventure Theatre MTC, Forum Theatre’s ReActs, NextStop Theatre Company’s DarkNights, and Kennedy Center’s PAGE TO STAGE Festival. Xemi writes social commentary on DC Theatre, Instead of Redface, Latinx Theatre, and other issues affecting Indigenous Transgender and Two-Spirit artists. Her first poetry chapbook, METZALI, will be released soon.
