Edited by Steven Reigns

My Life is Poetry

Hooray for this collection of poems-voices released into a world that has needed them for so long. Let this book be the first of many more. Let poetry return to us-as our natural right-our truth telling song.

—Marie Howe, author of The Kingdom Of Ordinary Time, What the Living Do, The Good Thief

What a fabulous program! And who could have thought of it but poet Steven Reigns? We need more outreach programs such as this across the nation, throughout the world. Let these fine and moving poems lead you into a life of poetry.

—Dorianne Laux, author of Facts About the Moon, Smoke, A Poet’s Companion

I was not prepared for the feelings these poems stirred in me. Each poet in this anthology triggered powerful memories (of first sex, of family ghosts, of public shame) and put me in touch with the desires (for intimacy, for acceptance) that all of us-no matter our age or sexual preference-share. I am grateful for this project, these voices.

—David Trinidad, author of The Late Show, Plasticville, Answer Song

It’s no secret that gay, lesbian and bisexual lives often go unspoken. In My Life is Poetry, Steven Reigns and a lustrous group of forthright older gay men, lesbians and bisexual writers set out to change that, giving voice to rich lifetimes of experience.

—Mark Doty, author of Fire To Fire, Dog Years, Firebird

My Life is Poetry is an original and pioneering collection. Its themes are as varied and rich as the lives its poems reveal, as the Hollywood movies and literary works that haunt its lines. These poets revel in the lessons their living has taught them and brought them. Joyful lessons of the lifelong recognition of same-sex desire; painful lessons of losses of lovers and friends to AIDS; unintentional lessons of parents, erstwhile spouses, and childhood friends who unwittingly fostered their choices of sexual difference; and oh, so many more lessons.

—Cheryl Clarke, author of The Days of Good Looks, Prose And Poetry 1980-2005, Living as a Lesbian

Edited by Steven Reigns, portraits by Jenny Walters
Cover image by: Thaddeus Root, preface by Dorothy Allison
ISBN: 978-0-9714393-0-6

Limited copies available. Contact Steven for more information.