Pier Queen

by Emanuel Xavier

Self-published chapbook

Genres: Poetry, LGBT, Queer

64 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1997

About the author

Emanuel Xavier helped open the doors for queer poets of color to take center stage and speak their truths. Through passion and perseverance, he emerged as an LGBTQ+ icon, as proclaimed by The Equality Forum. Long before diversity, equity, and inclusion became buzzwords, Xavier gave voice to his lived experiences, confronting politics, sexuality, and religion in poetry collections such as Pier Queen, Americano, If Jesus Were Gay, Nefarious, and Radiance.

Following Selected Poems of Emanuel Xavier—named one of Kirkus’ Best Indie Poetry Collections of 2021—he returned to an intimate exploration of Latinx and LGBTQ+ culture, community, and identity with Love(ly) Child (Rebel Satori Press, 2023), a finalist for the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry. His forthcoming collection, Still, We Are Sacred (Rebel Satori Press, 2026), continues this work with poems of survival, resistance, and unapologetic queer joy.

Reviews

[Aaron Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

This poetry book opened a lot of doors to tell my story and one of the reasons Emanuel is one of my favorite poets of all-time. Raw, gritty, puny, and sassy these poems speak truth to the tongue from someone that lived to tell the tale. I’m grateful for this book for making me want to pick my own again and write.

[Masha Morozov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raw, gritty, and real, the poetry and photographs speak volumes and represent a largely underrepresented view of pre-gentrified New York and the pier queen scene. I really enjoyed reading this and highly recommend it to anyone with a connection to or interested in the nyc piers!

[singingoutl000ud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Emanuel is raw, cunning and brave. I felt his pain when I read his prose. A gifted writer, not afraid to share his story. Highly recommend to anyone who enjoys reading poetry.

[Samu · Rating 3 out of 5]

To be fair, I don't think I understood half of it.

[Maughn Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to my amazing graduate assistant AA for introducing me to Xavier and gifting me this gut-punch of a book!