RECENTLY, a first-of-its-kind book, Outside the Lines: Talking with Contemporary Gay Poets was published by the University of Michigan Press, a collection of interviews with some of the most prominent poets alive who also happen to be gay. On the occasion of the book’s release last June, The Gay & Lesbian Review asked interviewer Christopher Hennessy to invite all of the poets who appear in the book to write a paragraph about how their artistic sensibilities have been shaped by their identity as gay men. Their thought-provoking answers appear below, and offer a taste of the kinds of insights and wisdom that they provided in abundance in their longer interviews.
Are there elements of your gay identity that you especially value as a writer, elements that might contribute to your ability to have a distinctive voice?
