Happy Birthday to us!

Exactly 25 years ago today, on May 11, 1999, what was originally known as the Potomac Gay Men's Book Group convened for its first meeting.  And we're still going strong a quarter-century later! For more details on our origin story, see the article in the current Washington Blade (p. 16).

Alfred Chester? He hardly knew her!

(I'm posting this item on behalf of our colleague Philip Clark.)

If anyone would like to find out more about Alfred Chester, the gay author of The Exquisite Corpse whom I mentioned when someone referenced his nasty review of John Rechy's City of Night during last week's discussion of that novel, I highly recommend Edward Field's recent collection, Voyage to Destruction: The Moroccan Letters of Alfred Chester. There's a lengthy, detailed discussion of Chester (which doubles as a review of the book) on the Grand website that serves as a fantastic primer on who he was. That should give you an idea of whether you'd like to read the collection.

LGBTQ poetry to get to know, Part II

These selections from the American Academy of Poetry's Poem-a-Day newsletter appeared in March, April and May 2024.  Enjoy! 

Emesis                                                                        by    Keetje Kuipers

black aphrodite entertains a mortal lover                  by    Saida Agostini

Drag                                                                        by    Jan Beatty

Somehow                                                                by     Dorothy Chan

The Paper Nautilus                                                by    Marianne Moore

When the Fact of Your Gaze Means Nothing        by    Donika Kelly

O Malik! I pray thee go for the wine full early    by    Abu Nuwas

A Welcome                                                            by     Joanna Klink

The Centaur                                                           by    Miller Oberman 

Lost Letter                                                            by    Tory Adkisson

Diagnostic Quiz for Human Ghost                        by    James Fujinami Moore

Parable                                                                    by    Nickole Brown

harvest                                                             by Angela Penaredondo

LGBTQ poetry to get to know, Part I

As we prepare to discuss the first part of Invisible History: The Collected Poems of Walta Borawski, co-edited by our very own Philip Clark and Michael Bronski--both of whom will attend the May 15 session, I'm delighted to report--it's high time that I catch up on sharing the LGBTQ-themed poems (not all by LGBTQ poets, I should note) from the American Academy of Poetry's Poem-a-Day newsletter. These poems were disseminated in January and February 2024. Enjoy!

From "The Land"                               by   Vita Sackville-West

The Lord's Corner                             by       Tyree Daye

Giornata 4                                          by    Gregory Pardlo

Hermaphrodite                                   by     Rickey Laurentiis

Phragmites                                         by     Kyle Carrero Lopez

Calculus I, II, III                                by     Brad Walrond

Sport                                                  by     Langston Hughes

Gills                                                   by     Rain Prud'homme-Cranford

Orino ka-n-an manbo emale             by     Alexis Pauline Gumbs

You're the Top                                   by     Ellen Bass

City of Night

I'm very grateful to Michael North for sharing these photos related to John Rechy's City of Night, which we'll be discussing next Wednesday, May 1. Michael comments: "At the Library of Congress, I looked up our first edition of City of Night, which has its original dust jacket. I thought the portrait of the 'youngman' John Rechy on the back and some of the descriptions might be of interest. ... They add some interesting color and context to its publication." That they do, Michael--thanks!  

Honoring Lilli Vincenz

On April 17, 1969, the Mattachine Society of Washington held its first picket outside the White House. Today, on the 59th anniversary, the Rainbow History Project will re-enact the picket in honor of Dr. Lilli Vincenz, one of the organizers of the original demonstration (alongside Frank Kameny), who passed away last year at the age of 85. The event will take place on the White House sidewalk in Lafayette Park from 4:20-5:20 p.m., with RHP members carrying replicas of the 1969 signs and handing out literature explaining the purpose (both of the 1969 protest and the re-enactment). Paul Kuntzler, the last surviving participant of the original picket, will participate, carrying a replica of his original poster.

Serendipitously, tonight Bookmen will be discussing the second half of Eric Cervini's The Deviant's War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America, whose Chapter 12 ("The Picket") is full of details about Dr. Vincenz and the White House demonstration. (We read the first half back in January.) 

"Having a Coke with You"

In the latest installment in the New York Times' "Close Read" series, critic A.O. Scott explores Frank O'Hara's poem, "Having a Coke with You." As he point out, it is one of some 50 poems inspired by Vincent Warren, a dancer O'Hara met in 1959, during their nearly two-year love affair. Scott works into his commentary comparisons to Shakespeare, Walt Whitman and Rembrandt, to name just a few writers and artists, but my favorite part comes at the very end:

O'Hara "was just 40 when he died, in July 1966, after being hit by a jeep on Fire Island. You can't really have a Coke with him. Except that, somehow, you can, which is why I'm telling you about it."