queer literature

To call TRANSGRESSIONS by Erastes a romance novel is to sell it short. True, this tale of gay love in seventeenth century England has many of the traditional elements of an historical romance; but the novel is also richly and convincingly psychological—something that cannot be said of many romance novels. The tale centers on two young men: lazy but lusty David and Jonathan, a Puritan whose repressed passions beat against the wall around his heart. When Jonathan becomes an apprentice to David’s sword smith father, the two are literally thrown together.

The Devil’s minions are at work in America. I’m speaking of the ubiquitous organized religious groups that get off on condemning queer youth (in God’s name of course) to hellfire and damnation, often driving them to suicide in the process. One such group consists of high school teens as described in THE GOD BOX by Alex Sanchez. As a secondary school teacher and staff developer, I can attest to the fact that such bigotry runs rampant among today’s youth even in a so-called sophisticated town like mine: New York City.

This begins my yearlong series discussing the queer literary canon. I hope we all read, discuss and love queer literature more and more.
--Dr. Hal

Father, Son and Unholy Ghosts
By Essex Hemphill

i

We are not always
the bravest sons
our fathers dream.
Nor do they always
dream of us.
We don't always
recognize him
if we have never
seen his face.
We are suspicious
of strangers.
Question:
is he the one?

ii

I stand waist deep
in the decadence of forgetting.
The vain act of looking the other way.
Insisting there can be peace