From ‘joyous’ to ‘erotically engaged’ to ‘white-hot angry’
Arts & Culture From ‘joyous’ to ‘erotically engaged’ to ‘white-hot angry’ Stephanie Burt’s new anthology rounds up 51 works by queer and trans poets spanning generations Eileen O’Grady Harvard Staff Writer June 12, 2025 5 min read Niles Singer/Harvard Staff Photographer As Stephanie Burt sees it, queer lyric poetry mirrors the patterns of queer life. She offers many examples in “Super Gay Poems: LGBTQIA+ Poetry After Stonewall,” a new anthology of 51 works by queer and trans poets from the last 55 years. “I chose only poems I admire and wanted to write an essay about,” said Burt, Donald P. and Katherine B. Loker Professor of English, who paired each work with an original essay providing analysis and historical context. “I looked for stylistic range, from concise to effusive, rhymed-formal to free and chaotic, weird-and-challenging to apparently pellucid. I also looked for emotional range, from joyous to erotically engaged to white-hot angry, quietly curious, resolved, mournful, inviting, shy, and...