Small Town, Big Secret
By Eduardo Martínez-Leyva
I began playing with language, tearing words apart, and putting them back together. The flexibility and wistfulness of poetry allowed me to come to terms with myself, my surroundings…
Browsing: Here’s My Story
Blog Posts
The Unwritten Rules of Silence
By Fendy Satria Tulodo
In Indonesia, some words carry the weight of culture, faith, and family honor. Some are never meant to be spoken at all.
Surviving a Kito Experience
By Osadolor Edokpayi
“Can you please come around? I’m preparing noodles. My folks went to church.” It seemed harmless. My mind, innocent and unsuspecting, didn’t sense any red flags. It was just a friendly visit.
Queer Rain: Reflections on James Baldwin’s Untitled
By Stacy Nathaniel Jackson
What of a different world Baldwin steadfastly conjured in his novels, essays, plays, and poems interrogating race, politics, and sexuality? Is that not the definition of worldbuilding?
Those Who Are Saved
By Iryn Tushabe
I didn’t have a boyfriend, so pregnancy checks didn’t bother me. Indeed, they were an opportunity to do the lord’s work; I was omulokole, a saved person.
Bruce and James
By Héctor Vizoso
On Halloween night in 1991, the doorbell rang, and it was Bruce. He was excited and hurried in to tell me to get ready because he had enrolled us in a Halloween competition at the After Dark.
Selamlik and a Bouquet of Wildflowers on Jean Genet’s Grave
By Khaled Alesmael
“Genet wrote about Syria and Palestine!” says Naima, the cemetery caretaker, as she turns the key in the gate’s lock, leading me towards the grave of Jean Genet (1910–1986).
On Vanity
By Nastya Dzutstsati
The tragedy of a state-imposed closet is that the performance never ends—unless you find a way to escape, or the government finds you first.
My Impact Statement: Rod Stewart’s “The Killing of Georgie (Part I and II)”
By Gregory Walters
Here was Rod Stewart, unabashedly telling anyone who would listen he was friends with a gay man. It’s important that he describes George as “the kindest guy I ever knew.”
A Bolt from the Blue
By Elizabeth Costello
My heart, my gut, my cunt assumed positions of power. If that moment was a tarot card it was absolutely The Tower — the first time I spoke to her I felt hit by lightning. The rules of my gravity changed.