Queer Poetry

My friend Reed and I, after meeting in person for only the fifth time (as he reminded me), were discussing the old Yahoo GayPoetry group.

It seemed that it had been dormant for months.

And then I found Gerald Miller's obit via searching the Web - or thought I did.  I'm still not sure.  The matter seems to be in limbo at the moment..

Gerald was one of my oldest and dearest "on-line" friends. I cried when I realized that I wasn't going to get to correspond with him and/or chat via Yahoo Messenger again.

R suggested that we revive the group, creating "GayPoetsGroup2." And nearly a month later, I re-connected with an old PlanetOut chat friend and met another kindred spirit on Paltalk.

So we grew to ten people.  And then I discovered that someone had erred - we had been classified by Yahoo! Groups as "Adult," and were therefore banned/omitted from the directory.  Those looking for the group couldn't find us.

* sigh *

I was all for writing it off, giving up, and accepting the inevitable:  people just don't care about poetry, about LGBT poetry or poets, or anything of that queer kind. 

Reed, however, demurred.  He encouraged me to take a deep breath and consider re-grouping.  He even offered to carefully research things so that the group would be properly classified and available to anyone looking for it. 

He also reminded me of Gerald Miller's original group home page statement:

Gerald founded Gay Poetry to be (in his own words, "a place where Gays can develop their Poetic Voice to speak about their lives. The idea is to have a nurturing focal point for Gay-oriented poetry, for its discussion and dissemination. I think this way we can be of assistance to each other in speaking to the wider world about our place in it."


And thus was born "Queer Poetry."  I kind of like the in-your-face notion of "queer" being a reflection of an odd, different, frequently outcast kind of person.

It certainly suits me.

We've kept Gerald's original home page statement, and Queer Poetry's new home page expands it with this:

I hope you'll find Queer Poetry to be a place to share your work, comment constructively and supportively, and explore your creativity.

All GLBTIQ poets, appreciators of poetry, or friends are welcome - regardless of sexual orientation. We ask that you be at least 16 to post messages, as that's the age of majority in most European nations (and we welcome queer poets from all over the globe).


The only restrictions are purely subjective: no ad homenim attacks, no flaming, no spamming.
The group is open to anyone who enjoys poetry or discussions of it, or writing it. By anyone, we mean regardless of sexual orientation. All are welcome.

Here's the URL: http:///groups.yahoo.com/group/QueerPoetry/

And now, we have eleven members.

And so it goes on growing.