Queer Nature: A Poetry Anthology

by Michael Walsh (Editor), Elizabeth Bishop (Contributor), Richard Blanco (Contributor)

An anthology of queer nature poetry spanning three centuries.
 
This anthology amplifies and centers LGBTQIA+ voices and perspectives in a collection of contemporary nature poetry. Showcasing over two hundred queer writers from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, Queer Nature offers a new context for and expands upon the canon of nature poetry while also offering new lenses through which to view queerness and the natural world.
 
In the introduction, editor Michael Walsh writes that the anthology is “concerned with poems that speak to and about nature as the term is applied in everyday language to queer and trans bodies and identities . . . Queer Nature remains interested in elements, flora, fauna, habitats, homes, and natural forces—literary aspects of the work that allow queer and trans people to speak within their specific cultural and literary histories of the abnormal, the animal, the elemental, and the unnatural.” The anthology features poets including Elizabeth Bishop, Richard Blanco, Kay Ryan, Jericho Brown, Allen Ginsberg, Natalie Diaz, and June Jordan, as well as emerging voices such as Jari Bradley, Alicia Mountain, Eric Tran, and Jim Whiteside.
 

Genres: Poetry, Queer, LGBT, Nature, Anthologies, Gay, Environment

320 pages, Paperback

Published May 11, 2022

About the author

Michael Walsh is an independent scholar, editor, poet and fiction writer. His full-length poetry collections include The Dirt Riddles (University of Arkansas Press) and Creep Love (Autumn House Press). He is also the author of two letterpress chapbooks: Adam Walking the Garden and Sleepwalks (both from Red Dragonfly Press). His short stories about rural gay life have appeared in journals such as Great River Review, North Dakota Quarterly and the anthology Fiction on a Stick (Milkweed Editions). In addition, he's the editor of the poetry anthology Queer Nature, forthcoming from Autumn House Press. He lives in the Driftless region of southwest Wisconsin.

Reviews

[Gabriel Noel · Rating 5 out of 5]

ARC given by Edelweiss+ for Honest Review

A very enjoyable and well collected anthology of queer writers. All poems are based around nature (some very obvious and others more abstract) and themes range from love, friendship, family, grief, and social justice.

I loved that I saw many poets I already liked featured and that I was also able to experience many new writers I may have not known about before!

The collection is MASSIVE so it's definitely a great book to read little by little.

I loved many poems (too many to list out) but my favorite of all is "pedicles, or this is where" by Matty Layne Glasgow

[archie · Rating 5 out of 5]

it took me a while to get through this as it’s the longest book of poetry i’ve read since starting to read poetry recently, but it has a great premise for an anthology & is a solid collection although not all of the poems really spoke to me. there were only a handful that really shined through for me, but the way they flowed together raised the rating a lot for me & i liked the ability to sit down for a minute & read one or two poems or sit down for an hour & get through a good chunk of them. really appreciate having words from all sorts of queer people compiled into one larger body of work & was a wonderful experience working through it the past 2 months

[marissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

cried more than once

[grub · Rating 5 out of 5]

i WORKED on this book for quite a while but im glad i did! i dogeared all the poems that really stuck with me. just an incredible mix that made me feel very whole! and i will always love the comparison between queerness and biology and nature bc nature IS so fucking queer, i say that as a phd student in ecology

[Suveah :) · Rating 4 out of 5]

it’s hard to rate a book of poetry, especially when it’s an anthology of so many different authors and stories. Overall, though, this was pretty good! My favorites were Burning in the Rain, Sex, Nearly a Valediction, Backyard Rock, and Fairytale

[Daniel Hardy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I wish I could give it more stars. Many of these poems dealt with difficult topics, so reader be aware, but so many of these spoke to me.
If you're a nature queer, especially a trans person, I think you'll find yourself in some of these poems.

[Marti (Letstalkaboutbooksbaybee) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love poetry and I love lgbtq perspectives so it should be no surprise I loved this poetry collection

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wide, wide range of good poetry!

Some were hits for me, others were misses, but I'm glad I got to see such a wide range of poetry about queerness or by queer authors.

[naviya · Rating 5 out of 5]

- such a good anthology!! what a good selection of poets, i found many new ones to love 🥰

[Miriam Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Excellent, though faded in goodness in the last third, strangely.

A very solid anthology which can be tricky! Phenomenally diverse in all ways - identities but also voices and styles. Delicious.

[⭐️orion ⭐️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok so this book is really epic and beautiful and yay i just didn’t like how it was structured alphabetically i think the flow of the poems could have felt more natural

[Nora Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

been reading this all year actually but well worth the time

[Claire Binkley · Rating 1 out of 5]

OK, I tried reading it. I don't in general like poetry, though. It is particularly stressful, frustrating, and frightening when I think about writing something for tomorrow. This is my primary XP with these kind of ideas.

Censure is a bogeyman, and I had kept most of my output heavily edited all the way up through grade school and beyond.

My continuing cold probably didn't help my enjoyment of the works of the poet laureates herein. However, you may enjoy them, feeling differently from, maybe even healthier than how I do.

[Hillary · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wide variety and large number of poems with different relations to queerness and to nature. There is minimal interpretation from the editor even in the ordering of the poems; they are presented without commentary, alphabetically by author. Even author bios are presented in the back, so there is no distraction from the poems themselves. I haven't seen this approach in a poetry anthology before, but it works well here. Voices of color are well represented. 

[Mia Sitterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

poets I already knew and loved:
Kaveh Akbar
Nikky Finney
Adrienne Rich
Sam Sax
Brenda Shaughnessy

poets I now know because of this book/will be reading more of:
Justin Chin
Julie R. Enszer
Miriam Bird Greenberg
Benjamin S. Grossberg
Richie Hoffman
Jenny Johnson
Ever Jones
Janey McAdams
Jacques J. Rancourt
Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers
Stacey Waite

[Zee · Rating 5 out of 5]

SO GOOD SO GOOD SO GOOD SO GOOD.
I don't have anything deep and meaningful to say but once I started reading this anthology it needed to come with me everywhere until it was done. I have been obsessed. Now I am completed. It has brought me meaning, or something. Read it.

[Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fav poems:
The Art of Butterflying by Tatiana de la Tierra, You Form by Rae Gouirand, Purple by Britteney Black Rose Kapri, Conservation & Rehabilitation by Alyse Knorr, Wild Geese by Mary Oliver, Queer Earth by Jess X Snow, Butch Geography by Stacey Waite

[Alex Strang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved it, it was a beautiful book on poetry and I am a sucker for poetry and this was just so nice to read in your spare time or just to Bing read. Truely amazing.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of great poetry in this one. Highly recommend.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

RAH I don't think I'm the right queer person for this book lmao, and no I won't elaborate beyond that

3/5 stars

[Spaceparadize · Rating 5 out of 5]

incredible collection