Outliving Michael

by Steven Reigns

Outliving Michael centers on Steven Reigns’s friendship with Michael Church, who died of AIDS in 2000. It explores their intergenerational bond, mentorship in navigating gay life, life as an artist, and the lasting imprint of connection. This deeply personal collection addresses grief, influence, friendship, and the magic of certain people who change our lives.
A memorial memoir hybrid of poetry, it shares the adventures of two gay men moving through the 1990s. We lost an entire generation of gay men to AIDS. These men played many roles—lover, sibling, parent, and also friend. Reigns charts such a friendship, preserving the intimacy and tenderness of a bond that continues to echo long after one life has ended.

90 pages, Hardcover

Published September 29, 2025

About the author

Steven Reigns is a Los Angeles poet and educator and was appointed the first Poet Laureate of West Hollywood. Alongside over a dozen chapbooks, he has published the collections Inheritance and Your Dead Body is My Welcome Mat. Reigns holds a BA in Creative Writing from the University of South Florida, a Master of Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, and is a fourteen-time recipient of The Los Angeles County’s Department of Cultural Affairs’ Artist in Residency Grant. He edited My Life is Poetry, showcasing his students’ work from the first-ever autobiographical poetry workshop for LGBT seniors. Reigns has lectured and taught writing workshops around the country to LGBT youth and people living with HIV. Currently he is touring The Gay Rub, an exhibition of rubbings from LGBT landmarks, facilitates the monthly Lambda Lit Book Club, and is at work on a new collection of poetry.

Reviews

[Erin Church · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful. I’m the daughter of Michael’s youngest brother Brian. I was born in March 2000 and Michael passed away later that same year in July. I was always so sad that I never knew him as I always heard wonderful stories of how he was such a light in everyone’s life. I wish I had been able to grow up with him in my life but I am so thankful to have this collection of memories of him. Thank you for being his friend and for this book.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘He felt like my true family and all the family I needed’ – The bonds of love

California author Steven Reigns, the first Poet Laureate of West Hollywood, offers one of the most sensitive examinations of the impact of love and death on the human soul. In this collection of poems he remembers not only his friend Michael, but life in the last century and the events that shaped it such as famous musicians and social events - and AIDS. There are so many moments in these poems that induce reflection and memories of another time, but Reigns also gently inserts his philosophy in a manner that fortifies faith: ‘Life is short/ Death is long.’ Some examples:

I’ve outlived so many
of the men in my life.
The most painful has always been,
will always be, outliving Michael.

After Michael died,
most of my recollections
began with
After Michael died

Successful on so many levels, this collection of poems underscores the importance of Steven Reigns as a high-ranking poet of our times. Highly recommended.

[Mitch Landreneau · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a work of art. I don't read much poetry but this book may change that. It's narrative poetry and it is very accessible. The author captures moments and details of his friendship with Michael in such a unique way, and the symbolism and metaphors in some of these poems are absolutely brilliant. I was surprised at how much emotion I felt as I read them - reading so few words, yet feeling and understanding so much. The book can be read in one sitting, but I purposely read just a few poems each day so that I could think about each one and give it space to breathe and come to life in my head. The poems document a friendship and a life cut short by AIDS in a truly special way. Highly recommend.

[Mihai · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice intro to poetry books for me. It really reminded me of the importance of friends in my life, particularly the friends like the book's Michael who are a bit more bold, more witty, better traveled and that bring me along with them through life. The author was fortunate to have someone so special in their life, and Michael is lucky to be memorialized in such a lovely way.