25 queer poets to read now and forever

The power of poetry

National Poetry Month takes place in April every year, but queer poetry can, and should, be read all year round!

Queer poets can be traced back to at least Ancient Greece, where Sappho wrote about her overwhelming feelings for women. With a legacy like that, it's no surprise queer people still love the written word.

From seasoned legends to literary giants to exciting young poets, these are 25 of the best queer wordsmiths to read.

Audre Lorde

Self-described as "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," Lorde is a leading queer and feminist voice in the world of literature, especially poetry. She's quoted in an interview with Callaloo as saying: "My sexuality is part and parcel of who I am, and my poetry comes from the intersection of me and my worlds..." Read some of her work here.

Danez Smith

Danez Smith is a queer, poz writer and performer from Minnesota. Their book Don't Call Us Dead (2017) was a finalist for the National Book Award, and [insert] Boy (2014) was the winner of the Lambda Literary Award and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Their 2020 book Homie won the Minnesota Book Award for Poetry. Their most recent book of poems, Bluff, was released in 2024. Read selections here.

Adrienne Rich

A lesbian and feminist pioneer, Rich's poetry has become a part of the American literary canon. Her collections, such as A Change of World (1951) and Snapshots of a Daughter-in-Law: Poems 1954-1962 (1963), explore identity and have been praised critically. Read some of her work here.

Allen Ginsberg

Allen Ginsberg is celebrated as one of the great queer voices of all time in writing. A leader of the Beat Poetry movement, he first rose to prominence with Howl and Other Poems. Read some of his work here.

Andrea Gibson

Andrea Gibson is a contemporary slam poet who rose to international fame online through video content. The artist explores themes of gender identity, love, life, and death in their work. They've released seven books, including Pole Dancing to Gospel Hymns, Pansy, Take Me With You, and You Better Be Lightning. They also released seven albums of spoken word poetry, including When the Bough Breaks, Yellowbird, Flower Boy, and Hey Galaxy. In 2023, they were appointed Poet Laureate of Colorado by Governor Jared Polis.

Gibson was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021 and passed away on July 14, 2025, surrounded by their wife, family, and friends.

Take a look here.

C.P. Cavafy

C.P. Cavafy is a 20th century Greek poet, known for his highly homoerotic and sexually explicit poetry. While he remained mostly obscure during his lifetime, he's now come to be revered as one of the great gay poets of the past hundred years. Read here.

Eileen Myles

OUT100 honoree Eileen Myles is a modern legend in the world of queer literature with over 20 books published in their career. Known for such classics as Chelsea Girls and Cool For You, they won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction in 2011 for Inferno (a poet's novel). Read some of their poems here.

Elizabeth Bishop

While she remained somewhat obscure for much of her career, the lesbian poet Elizabeth Bishop won the Pulitzer Prize for her second collection of poetry, Poems: North & South/ A Cold Spring. Read some here.

Federico Garcia Lorca

The Spanish poet was a contemporary of such artists as Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel. His work often incorporates elements of fantasy and folklore. Read some of his highly-acclaimed work here.

Frank O'Hara

O'Hara was active in the mid-20th century in New York City. He was also a respected art critic and curator. Read some of his work here.

Frank Bidart

Frank Bidart's early work focuses much on the concept of guilt, but his status as canon in American literature was solidified by some of his later pieces, like Desire, Star Dust, and Watching the Spring Festival. Read some of his work here.

Ifti Nasim

Ifti Nasim was a gay Pakistani-American poet who moved to the States to escape persecution for his sexuality back in his hometown. He became known for establishing Sangat, a group that supports LGBT south-Asian youth. Hear some of his poetry here.

Jack Kerouac

Kerouac was a prolific French-Canadian poet active in New York City in the mid-20th century. He's best known for his 1957 masterpiece On The Road. Read some of his work here.

James Baldwin

Baldwin is known as one of the great, proud gay artists of all time. His work is unabashedly queer and intersectional. While he's best known for his novels, like Notes of A Native Son and Giovanni's Room, he was also a celebrated poet--read some selections here.

John Giorno

Giorno was in Andy Warhol's first film, Sleep, and the two had a romantic relationship. A poet and visual artist, he also counted names like Patti Smith and Robert Rauschenberg as friends. He passed away in 2019. Read some of his pieces here.

June Jordan

June Jordan was a pioneering poet, playwright, and essayist who worked for women's rights, civil rights, and sexual freedom. Jordan's work is known for its accessibility; she often wrote in vernacular for a sense of immediacy and familiarity. Read here.

Michelle Tea

Tea is a queer postpunk poet based in Massachusetts. She's known for pieces like Valencia and Rose of No Man's Land. She's received a Lambda Literary Award and was Zale Writer-in-Residence at Tulane University. Read here.

Pauli Murray

Murray was a civil rights and women's rights activist, a lawyer, an author, and a poet. She often contemplated issues of sexual and gender identity. Her volume of poetry is titled Dark Testament and Other Poems. Read more here.

Richard Blanco

Blanco immigrated to the States from Madrid. His work has received prizes including the Agnes Starrett Poetry Prize, the PEN/American Beyond Margins Award, the Tom Gunn Award, the Maine Literary Award, and the Paterson Prize. Read some of his poems here.

Saeed Jones

Saeed Jones' poetry explores race, power, and intimacy, among other concepts. His debut collection Prelude to Bruise (2014) received critical acclaim. His second book was the award-winning memoir How We Fight for Our Lives. Read some of his work here.

Tommy Pico

Pico is Brooklyn-based poet originally from the Viejas Indian reservation. He has published four books, including IRL and Nature Poem, and has written for TV shows like Reservation Dogs and Resident Alien. Read some of his poetry here.

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman is one of the great poets of all time, and a champion of homoeroticism in the literary form. He's celebrated for his collection Leaves of Grass as one of the greatest poets in history. Read selections here.

Lee Mokobe

Mokobe is a trans South African poet and speaker for TED Talks. He's performed alongside such artists as Chance the Rapper and Mos Def. Watch his poem about his transness here.

Rickey Laurentiis

Rickey Laurentiis is the author of Boy With Thorn, which won the 2014 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Her latest book is Death of the First Idea, which was published in 2025. Read selections from her work here.

Alok Vaid-Menon

Alok is a gender non-conforming performance artist, actor, and poet who rose to worldwide social media fame under the moniker 'DarkMatter.' Their works include Beyond the Gender Binary, Femme in Public, and Your Wound, My Garden. They were also the subject of the docu-short ALOK in 2024. Read some of their work here.