20 Must-Read Queer Poetry Collections

Award-winning poet Andrea Gibson is known for uplifting the queer community through their writing. Their seven poetry collections center around queer love, social reform, gender norms, mental health, and more. This most recent collection is my personal favorite yet, with poems on climate change, disability, and love that will give you goosebumps — plus a phenomenal poem on goosebumps. Once you’ve finished this one, I highly recommend Lord of the Butterflies as well.

This stunning poetry collection plays with form and visual impact in ways that will leave you breathless. Jasmine Mans, also known for her spoken word poetry, uses these poems to navigate Black girlhood, family ties, queer identity, feminism, and much more. Her fresh voice makes this an accessible collection for readers new to poetry and experienced poetry lovers.

This collection is exactly what it sounds like: a queer manifesto for sexual liberation and unapologetic authenticity. Britteney Black Rose Kapri uses her poems to demand respect and recognition for every part of her existence. The experimental nature of her writing draws on tweets, hip hop, and more to turn traditional form on its head.

This is a breathtaking collection, overflowing with rage and pain and healing and joy. Asghar tells a powerful story of being a Pakistani Muslim orphan in America, coming of age surrounded by love but feeling untethered. She grapples with violent histories, with a lack of memory of her family and her homeland, and with racial, religious, and queer micro- and macroaggressions. Her poetry is wholly original and her unique voice resonates throughout the collection.

Slam poet Rachel Wiley uses her poetry in Nothing is Okay to deconstruct the lies society tells us about our bodies and the way we see ourselves. Anger and joy dance together in Wiley’s accessible and powerful poems about body positivity, mental health, feminism, and self-love. Be sure to also check out her debut collection, Fat Girl Finishing School.

Marcelo Hernández Castillo plays with poetry and imagery in his groundbreaking work Cenzontle. The collection depicts life before, during, and after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, and focuses on the fallacy of the American dream, immigrant experiences, and being a queer man married to a cis woman. In addition to writing poetry, Castillo also translates poetry and has written a memoir, Children of the Land.

Jericho Brown is an award-winning queer poet and creative writing teacher. His Pulitzer Prize–winning collection The Tradition explores trauma, violence, legacy, intimacy, and much more in a way that shows his mastery of language. These poems utilize Brown’s original form of the duplex, a combination of sonnet, ghazal, and blues. I recommend reading each poem through at least twice; you’ll be surprised by what comes to light in rereading.

Blurring the lines between human and technology, this fascinating collection by Franny Choi is experimental in the best kind of way by playing with themes of artificial intelligence, automation, and the Turing Test. It’s a thought-provoking take on queer Asian femininity and tenderness in a violent world.

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is a poet and activist known for writing at the intersection of everyday life and calls for social change. Their poetry collection Bodymap is a love letter to queer disabled femmes of color, exploring the homes we make inside and outside of our own bodies. It’s tough and vulnerable in equal measure.

Ocean Vuong made a splash in the literary scene with his debut novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. But before that stunning book, there was his critically acclaimed poetry collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds. Vuong’s writing is quietly life-changing with themes of family, loss, grief, war, and memory. His upcoming book Time is a Mother, coming out on April 22 from Random House, is one of the most anticipated poetry collections of the year.

Kay Ulanday Barrett is a self-described “disabled Filipinx-amerikan transgender queer” poet, performer, and educator. Barrett draws on their everyday lived experiences and slang to create a relatable, honest, and stunning collection of poems about sickness, queerness, community, and much more. Their words feel at times like an intimate whisper and at others like a resonating shout. Once you’ve finished, check out their second collection, More Than Organs.

Danez Smith is writing some of the most compelling contemporary poetry today, and their writing absolutely cannot be missed. This collection, a Lambda Literary Award winner and National Book Award finalist, is truly unforgettable. It starts with a poem that imagines an afterlife for Black men killed by police. From there, it explores queer desire, physical vulnerability, living with HIV, and so much more. If you want a poetry collection that will bring you to your knees, look no further.

Keondra Bills Freemyn combines her beautiful poetry with her expertise as an archivist and historian in this collection that explores desire, loss, and memory. From homages to groundbreaking Black writers to stunning haikus, Freemyn’s writing is authentic and deeply human in a way that will stick with you long past the final poem.

This slim collection shows poetry’s magical gift of turning the world on its head with only a few words. Transfeminine writer, performer, and public speaker Alok Vaid-Menon uses these pages to meditate on anti-trans violence and imagine a world that celebrates femininity instead of forcing people to destroy that part of themselves in order to survive. These intimate and vulnerable poems demand that you rethink the boundaries society places around gender.

There’s a reason Nikita Gill has become such a force as a social media poet. Her poems are full of mantras of self-love and can give you strength you didn’t know you had. Gill has a wonderful way of taking trauma and turning it into a place for growth and hope. This collection feels like a love letter to the reader that can help you recognize and embrace your own power.