Pride and Poetry in the Park

Attending a pop up stage poetry reading in Washington Square Park during the New York City Pride Festival, I was struck by how political and protest oriented much of the work was. With all the assimilation and acceptance that’s been achieved in recent years, at least in urban parts of the United States and progressive outposts of the world, it was a reminder that a lot of queer writers historically wrote out of rage. Fear of the status quo and its obsession with “crimes against nature,” and a longing for a more tolerant and supportive environment drove a lot of LGBT people to put pen to paper. It also created alliances between the LGBT crowd and other oppressed groups, alliances which I hope will endure.

The participants read not only their own work but work of queer writers who have inspired them (June Jordan, Audre Lorde, Adrenne Rich, C.P. Cavafy, Judy Grahn, among others). Forgive me -- it was hot, the park was busy, and I can’t remember the names of all the participants or who paid tribute to whom -- but the overall effect was a remarkable tribute and celebration of LGBT poetry in the heart of gay old Greenwich Village, now overrun with Starbucks and strollers. Pardon my digression.

It’s always nice to see poetry, even fairly traditional, non-Slam poetry, competing for attention in public spaces. Street musicians and buskers and poets, oh my! Actually, it was mostly just people frolicking in the fountain and passersby that sometimes seemed to drown out the voices of the readers. A few people lingered to listen for a moment, curious about what these people were up to. (One guy, during a brief break in the action, stepped in front of the crowd to announce, “I think what you’re doing is great.” But he just seemed to want to spend a minute on center stage.) When the reading resumed amidst the clamor of the park, we moved in a little closer to hear, and the reading continued and the audience grew. My suspicion is that even a few straight people couldn’t help leaning in to catch some queer poetry. More info about Verses for Hope and a list of readers can be found here.