The start of February brings with it the start of LGBT history month in the UK \u2013 a month dedicated to recognising both the advancements made by activists and the barriers that still stand in our way. It is also a time to amplify the voices and lived experiences of the queer community, to raise their stories and creations to a level that is never usually reached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Queer is an identity that means something different to every individual. It is personal and intrinsic and, for as long as humanity has existed, it has existed right there alongside it. There is no \u2018correct\u2019 way to be, or to express yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Below are fifteen poems by queer poets across a range of topics, from gender to sexuality, activism to oppression. But above all, the majority of these poems are a celebration of what being queer means; of defying the norms and doing so in a way that leaves you standing, not in somebody else\u2019s shadow, but within your own power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regardless of whether you are out or not, you are seen and you are loved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For poems marked with a *, please see the content warnings at the bottom of this article<\/em> each translation is a transformation by Raquel Salas Rivera<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Not Everything Is Sex by Lauren Whitehead<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Breathe. As in. (shadow) by Rosamond S. King<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n On Trans by Miller Oberman<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Peanut Butter by Eileen Myles<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ocean Vuong on ‘Seventh Circle of Earth’<\/a>*<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of This Is to Say by Ever Jones<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Things Haunt by Joshua Jennifer Espinoza<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Oracle Was Stoned by Chester Wilson III<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Filling Spice Jars as Your Wife by Kai Coggin<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Summer by Chen Chen<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n On World-Making by Nomi Stone<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kudzu by Saeed Jones<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Coming Out by Romeo Oriogun<\/a>**<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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