Not sure where to begin? QPA editor Clare Johnson’s “Featured Poems” list is a great place to start exploring the diversity of voices and topics in this anthology. Happy reading!
Celebrations | Brandi Douglas
- Author tags: Queer, Two-Spirit, Activist, American Indigenous/Alaska Native, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latine/o/a, Indigenous, Neurodivergent
- Content notices: lack of acceptance
Open Water Wishes | Elinor Serumgard
- Author tags: Bisexual, Genderfluid, Transgender, Transmasc
The world is too small for us | June Ma
- Author tags: Lesbian, Transfemme, Asian or Asian American, Immigrant, Polyamorous
- Content notices: sensuality
Within Neurosis (I Watch After A Garden) | Linus Elkins
- Author tags: Genderqueer, Lesbian, Neurodivergent, White
- Content notices: mental health
An Unquiet Symptom | Patrick Milian
- Author tags: Gay, Hispanic or Latine/o/a
- Content notices: mental health, medical trauma, illness
Cultus Bay | Cara Stoddard
- Author tags: Genderqueer, Queer, Jewish, Parent, White
- Content notices: sensuality
Create New World | Cara Stoddard
- Author tags: Genderqueer, Queer, Jewish, Parent, White
Today I sat in the sun shirtless | Temple R. Loveli
- Author tags: Asexual, Bisexual, Demisexual, Gay, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Pansexual, Queer, Transgender, Transmasc, Transgender(ful), Activist, Disabled, Impacted by poverty, Incarcerated or formerly incarcerated, Low-income, Neurodivergent, Polyamorous, White
- Content notices: anti-LGBTQ hate, lack of acceptance
To My Friend Who Looked Away When I Couldn't Answer the Question How are you? | Jourdan Keith
- Author tags: Queer, Activist, Black or African American, Christian
- Content notices: grief, trauma or abuse
Black Record | Jourdan Keith
- Author tags: Queer, Activist, Black or African American, Christian
rescue | elahe zare
- Author tags: Bisexual, Queer, Activist, Low-income, Neurodivergent, Parent
house sitting/as date night | Olivia Violet
- Author tags: Agender, Bisexual, Demisexual, Queer, Transfemme, Transgender, Nonbinary, Activist, Disabled, Low-income, Neurodivergent, White
- Content notices: alcohol
Someday | Mateo Acuña
- Author tags: Gay, Transmasc, Activist, American Indigenous/Alaska Native, Hispanic or Latine/o/a, Immigrant, Indigenous, Neurodivergent
haiku | Mateo Acuña
- Author tags: Gay, Transmasc, Activist, American Indigenous/Alaska Native, Hispanic or Latine/o/a, Immigrant, Indigenous, Neurodivergent
81-53 164th Street | Jacky Stephenson
- Author tags: Pansexual, Queer
- Content notices: sensuality
from Summer Daybook | Jay Aquinas Thompson
- Author tags: Bisexual, Genderqueer, Queer, nonbinary, Activist, Christian, Parent, White, nonmonogamous
- Content notices: alcohol, death
PHONE CALL TO THE LAST LESBIAN BAR IN SEATTLE | Emily Carlson
- Author tags: Bisexual, Queer
- Content notices: alocohol
My Real Name | Renny Christopher
- Author tags: Agender, Bisexual, Queer, Atheist, White
A Pleasure of Plums | Carrie Sanford
- Author tags: Bisexual, Activist, Parent, Rural community member
Sunlight in the Kitchen | Zuko Solace Sinclair
- Author tags: Agender, Bisexual, Queer, Transsexual, Activist, Disabled, Immigrant, White
Ode To Growing Tomatoes | Mickee Cheung
- Author tags: Bisexual, Queer, Asian or Asian American
- Content notices: swearing
(n. the fear of going home) | Gwendolyne Mitchell
- Author tags: Genderqueer, Lesbian, Pansexual, Queer, Transfemme, Transgender, Jewish, Neurodivergent, White, Buddhist
- Content notices: lack of acceptance
there is that sense of myself | Veronica Wasson
- Author tags: Transfemme, Transgender
Victory Chant | Dylan Cooper
- Author tags: Genderqueer, Queer, Nonbinary
- Content notices: swearing
Baking Cupcakes as the World Burns | Robin H
- Author tags: Bisexual, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Pansexual, Queer, Activist, Christian, Neurodivergent, White, Homeschooler/Unschooler, Younger Sister
- Content notices: environmental trauma
Sometimes | Moss Aphelion
- Author tags: Bisexual, Genderfluid, Queer, Transgender, Disabled, Neurodivergent, Polyamorous
- Content notices: mental health, lack of acceptance
Building | Bee Williams
- Author tags: Bisexual, Genderqueer, Omnisexual, Pansexual, Queer, Nonbinary, Disabled, Neurodivergent, Polyamorous
my girlfriend saves me a plum | Amber Flame
- Author tags: Agender, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Queer, Activist, Black or African American, Disabled, Impacted by poverty, Low-income, Parent, Polyamorous
- Content notices: sensuality
debajo de la mesa | Fiona Martinez
- Author tags: Queer, Activist, Hispanic or Latine/o/a, White
Identity | Linda Conroy
- Author tags: Queer, Immigrant, Neurodivergent, Parent, White
Fall to Fall | Michael Mendonsa
- Author tags: Gay
- Content notices: sensuality
Sizzle | Sylvia Byrne Pollack
- Author tags: Lesbian, Jewish, Parent, White, divorced from man; married a woman
Moonlight Over Skagit | Melina Juárez Pérez
- Author tags: Bisexual, Queer
Goldfinch after Samuel Beam | Clair Dunlap
- Author tags: Genderqueer, Nonbinary, Rural community member, White, Chronically ill
- Content notices: illness, medical trauma
Ballad of a Horse-Whisperer | Clyde Petersen
- Author tags: Queer, Transmasc, Activist, Atheist, Disabled, Low-income, Rural community member, White
- Content notices: swearing, genocide, addiction
You Won't See Me | Olivia Inwards
- Author tags: Agender, Bisexual, Demisexual, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Queer, Transfemme, Demiromantic, Neurodivergent, Polyamorous, System
- Content notices: lack of acceptance
Only in a Memory | Sam Ludlow
- Author tags: Bisexual, Asian or Asian American, White
- Content notices: suicide or self-harm (including ideation), mental health
Snow | Nguyễn Bình
- Author tags: Queer, Activist, Polyamorous, Southeast Asian
Coloring Books are Boring | Em Arata-Berkel
- Author tags: Agender, Asexual, Demisexual, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Queer, Atheist, Impacted by poverty, Neurodivergent, White
- Content notices: sensuality
At 15, I Tell My Mother I am Going to the Queer-Straight Alliance Sleepover | Oliver Brickman
- Author tags: Gay, Genderqueer, Queer, Transgender, Activist, Disabled, Jewish, Neurodivergent, White
- Content notices: swearing, lack of acceptance
Snowflake Recollections | Jayden Chang
- Author tags: Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Asian or Asian American, Christian, Disabled, Buddist
Skiing | Sophie-Lorraine Smith
- Author tags: Asexual, Gay, Lesbian, Queer, Nonbinary
Unnamed examination of dysphoria in two named parts | Adhi Kona
- Author tags: Asexual, Bisexual, Queer, Transgender, Transmasc, Asian or Asian American, Disabled, Hindu, Neurodivergent
- Content notices: gender dysphoria, mental health
She Waits For Me | Janet Melman
- Author tags: Transfemme, Transgender, Activist, Jewish
Winter Pantoum | Sierra Nelson
- Author tags: Bisexual, Queer
And I Hope Death is Softer | Cuba Jimenez
- Author tags: Lesbian, Neurodivergent, Mixed Race
- Content notices: death
Trans Day of Remembrance | Luther Hughes
- Author tags: Gay, Queer, Black or African American, Christian
- Content notices: death, suicide or self-harm (including ideation), anti-LGBTQ hate
Skyway | Luther Hughes
- Author tags: Gay, Queer, Black or African American, Christian
- Content notices: death, alcohol
Poets Meet When? | Anais K.R.
- Author tags: Agender, Queer, Activist, Christian, White
Poor Unfortunate Souls | R. Thursday
- Author tags: Asexual, Bisexual, Demisexual, Genderqueer, Pansexual, Queer, Transmasc, Activist, Asian or Asian American, Christian, Impacted by poverty, Low-income, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, Neurodivergent, Polyamorous, Rural community member, White
- Content notices: family trauma or domestic violence, mental health, lack of acceptance
Origin Story, Re-wrought | Elizabeth Bradfield
- Author tags: Lesbian, Activist, White
- Content notices: swearing, sensuality
Sailor, Cowboy, White | Jacqueline Ojeda Mendez
- Author tags: Agender, Genderqueer, Queer, Hispanic or Latine/o/a
Here is the Story of Caeneus | Mo Dole
- Author tags: Asexual, Queer, Transmasc, Nonbinary, trans, Neurodivergent, White
- Content notices: swearing, sexual assault, violence, anti-LGBTQ hate
Parsing the Nonbinary | Subhaga Crystal Bacon
- Author tags: Genderqueer, Queer, Transmasc, nonbinary, Neurodivergent, Rural community member, White
- Content notices: sensuality, lack of acceptance
My Mother and I | Danny Dudarov
- Author tags: Demisexual, Queer, Transgender, Non-binary, Activist, Atheist, Immigrant, Neurodivergent, White, Ukrainian
Blessed Land | Sofía Esperanza Lavoe
- Author tags: Genderqueer, Lesbian, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latine/o/a, Indigenous
- Content notices: death, grief, trauma or abuse, lack of acceptance
Message ChatGPT... | C.L. Severson
- Author tags: Transfemme, Activist, Hispanic or Latine/o/a
Almost a Hymn for the Collapsed | Adele
- Author tags: Bisexual, Queer, Transgender, Christian, Disabled, White
- Content notices: religion
Ars Poetica | Malia Maxwell
- Author tags: Gay, Lesbian, Queer, Indigenous, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, White
- Content notices: grief
The Languishing Anguish of May | Geri Gale
- Author tags: Lesbian, Jewish
Lucifer Bulbs | J. Turner Masland
- Author tags: Gay, Queer, Activist, Low-income, Neurodivergent, Rural community member, White, Buddhist
- Content notices: swearing
To whom it may concern (or, an introduction) | Brian Dang
- Author tags: Gay, Queer, Transfemme, Transgender, Asian or Asian American, Immigrant
SHORT SCENE IN WHICH MY GRANDMOTHER AND I UNDERSTAND EVERY WORD WE SAY TO EACH OTHER | Brian Dang
- Author tags: Gay, Queer, Transfemme, Transgender, Asian or Asian American, Immigrant
Delta | Logan Wilson
- Author tags: Activist, Agender, Atheist, Bisexual, Black or African American, Disabled, Jewish, Neurodivergent, White
- Content notices: grief
Only OCD Specialist in Edmonds, Wa | Gem Arbogast
- Author tags: Genderqueer, Lesbian, Low-income, Neurodivergent, White
- Content notices: mental health, medical trauma
petals | Frances Gregory
- Author tags: Genderqueer, Low-income, Neurodivergent, White
Project Ideas (Art) | Jenna Bean Veatch
- Author tags: Queer, Activist, Low-income, Parent
- Content notices: housing instability, violence
about me | Lindsey Hand
- Author tags: Genderqueer, Queer, Neurodivergent, White
- Content notices: lack of acceptance, swearing
Hakka Hill Song #2 | Julie Feng
- Author tags: Bisexual, Queer, Activist, Asian or Asian American, Immigrant
Hakka Hill Song #5 | Julie Feng
- Author tags: Bisexual, Queer, Activist, Asian or Asian American, Immigrant
An Ecology for Tender-Hearted Boys | Keegan Lawler
- Author tags: Bisexual, Pansexual, Queer, Disabled, Parent, Rural community member, White
Ill-Advised Love Poem at the Anacortes Ferry Terminal | Cass Garison
- Author tags: Bisexual, Genderqueer, Queer, Transgender, Transmasc, Neurodivergent, White
All the Ugly Little Things We Make For Eachother | Jaiden Dokken
- Author tags: Bisexual, Gay, Genderqueer, Pansexual, Queer, Transgender, Transmasc, Rural community member, White
Sunset cheeks | Indira Dahlstrom
- Author tags: Lesbian, Asian or Asian American, Hispanic or Latine/o/a
- Content notices: sensuality
Two Boys | Sleeping | Stephen Jackson
- Author tags: Queer, Activist, Atheist, Impacted by poverty, Low-income, Neurodivergent, Vegan
Sonnet Where We Walk into the Museum in Cuffed Jeans and Rainbow Socks | Kelli Russel Agodon
- Author tags: Activist, Bisexual, Neurodivergent, Pansexual, Parent, Queer, White
The Stained Glass Windows | Christina McElhaney
- Author tags: Lesbian
- Content notices: religious trauma, religion
Hi. My Name Is Billy Hollands. | Bill Hollands
- Author tags: Gay, Queer
ICYMI: One-Sentence Summaries of My Recent Poems | Bill Hollands
- Author tags: Gay, Queer
Transfusion | Ching-In Chen
- Author tags: Asexual, Genderfluid, Genderqueer, Pansexual, Queer, Transgender, Activist, Asian or Asian American, Disabled, Neurodivergent, Parent, Polyamorous
There's Something Else | Clare Johnson
- Author tags: Gay, Genderqueer, Lesbian, Queer, Dyke, Activist, Disabled, Low-income, Neurodivergent, White, Former immigrant
Bedtime Story: the girl and the quarter moon | Arianne True
- Author tags: Asexual, Demisexual, Genderfluid, Lesbian, Queer, Disabled, Impacted by poverty, Indigenous, Low-income, Neurodivergent, Polyamorous
- Content notices: illness, medical trauma, violent imagery, lack of acceptance
Credits
Clare Johnson, Editor