This LGBT+ History Month, the theme is Medicine – #UnderTheScope. The month seeks to celebrate LGBT+ peoples’ contributions to the field of medicine and healthcare both historically and today. If you would like to learn more about this topic or take part in the month, Augustine House Library and Drill Hall Library have a selection available and there are many events running all throughout the month.

As for the sustainability blog – I, personally, know nothing about medicine. But I do know about poetry, and this blog has a history of sharing on-theme poetry for themed events like LGBT+ History, Black History and Women’s History.

So, to celebrate medical contributions and to take a look back at LGBT+ history in light of medicine and healthcare, we have collected a number of poems, from the perspectives of both the doctors and the patients.

Poetry, as an art form, is the perfect medium for expressing feelings and concepts that are otherwise torturous or impossible to properly convey. Take a few minutes to select a handful of poems at random and sink into the experiences of those who have managed to find the words to describe them.

My Death by Tim Dlugos

D.O.A. by Tim Dlugos

Tim Dlugos died from complications of AIDS in 1990; many of his most confessional poems were not published in his lifetime. “D.O.A.” was the last poem Dlugos ever wrote. You can find out more about Tim Dlugos in John McIntyre’s essay, “In Time of Plague”.

The Abdominal Exam by Rafael Campo

Allegory by Rafael Campo

Rafael Campo is a poet, essayist and physician who practises internal medicine a both Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. The gay son of Cuban parents, Campo started practicing internal medicine in the early 1990s, at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the US.

I Can’t Breathe by Pamela Sneed

A Black Queer artist and performer, Pamela Sneed has published the book “Funeral Diva”, a memoir in poetry and prose about growing up during the AIDS crisis, especially as a Black, Queer woman.

In an Operating Room Outside of the Cis Woman’s Imagination by torrin a. greathouse

Sick4Sick by torrin a. greathouse

torrin a. greathouse is a transgender “cripple-punk” poet and essayist whose debut collection “Wound from the Mouth of a Wound” was the winner of the 2022 Kate Tufts Discovery Award.

Mnemonic: ᎠᎩᏲᏟ/Agiyotli/Pain by Qwo-Li Driskill

Sick T’ang Poems and They Think They Can Tell by Looking by Qwo-Li Driskill

Poet, scholar and activist, Qwo-Li Driskill’s poetry is rooted in personal (unenrolled) Cherokee Two-Spirit, queer and mixed race experience.

Three Poems by Brian Teare

“When we are on the right track, we are rewarded with joy” by Brian Teare

Brian Teare’s most recent publications explore queer abstraction, chronic illness and collage.

Heartbeats by Melvin Dixon

Four Poems by Melvin Dixon

Melvin Dixon wrote extensively about the complexities of being a gay Black man. He died from complications related to AIDS at age 42. You can find out more about him in Noah Stetzer’s essay, “Heart to Heart”.

By Bethany Climpson, Sustainability Engagement Assistant