A Small Needful Fact by Ross Gay - Poem Analysis

Contents:

• BT GAY POEMS
• POEMS / GAY POEMS - THE BT POETRY ON THE WEBNEWTMARIA MORISOT   FOLLOWON JUL 16 2023 07:59 PM PST  RAISG NOAH'S FLAG
• POEMS / GAY LOVE POEMS - THE BT POETRY ON THE WEBNEWTKENRYU JOSHUA   FOLLOWON FEB 16 2023 05:38 PM PST  BEE I WANTED YOU TO KNOW
• GAY AND LBIAN WEDDG POEMS
• POEMS / GAY PRI POEMS - THE BT POETRY ON THE WEBNEWTSENSUALVIRTUOSO   FOLLOWON MAY 08 2014 09:17 AM PST  FREEDOM
• GAY POEMS
• ROSS GAY POEMS
• GAY
• GAY PRI POEMS - POEMS ABOUT GAY PRI
• BACKWARDS RHYME

BT GAY POEMS

Bt LGBTQ Poems1 I Sg the Body Electric by Walt Whman2 A Lany for Survival by Audre Lor3 Poem about My Rights by June Jordan4 The Aureole by Nikky Fney5 What Kd of Tim Are The by Adrienne Rich6 One Girl by Sappho7 A Lady by Amy Lowell8 Homosexualy by Frank O’Hara9 The Lyric In a Time of War by Eloise Kle Healy10 Who Said It Was Simple by Audre Lor11 FAQS. June is Pri Month, an annual celebratn memoratg the 1969 Stonewall Rts, which took place New York Cy and lnched the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer rights movement the Uned Stat. The double meang wh body and “boy” is clever and the acronym wh the poem metaphorilly speaks to the plights of a trans bo’y wak upthe bo’y looks at selfthe bo’y notic somethg missgthere is both too much and not enough flh on the bo’ythe bo’y is vered hairwhat a hairy bo’ysome mak look more like a bo’ysome mak look more like a monsterthe bo’y did not learn to shave om s fatherso tght self how to graze s sk and cut thgs offthe bo’y cuts self by accintthe blood remds the bo’y is a bo’yremds the bo’y how a bo’y bleedsremds the bo’y that not every bo’y bleedsthe bo’y talks to a girl about bleedgshe explas how this bo’y worksthis bo’y is different om hersbo’y has too much and not enough flh to be herthe blogy of a bo’y is jtbo’y will only ever be a bo’ythe bo’y is Blackso the bo’y is and will only ever be a bo’ythe bo’y uldn’t be a man if triedthe bo’y triedthe bo’y feels emptythe bo’y feels like will only ever be emptythe bo’y feels that will never hold the weight of another bo’y si of no matter how many ds f si the bo’ythe bo’y is a hollow fa attempts a nvcg veneerbo’y drs — what hips on the bo’ybo’y pats s face — what lips on the bo’ybo’y adorns self wh labels wrten for lovelier amwhat a betiful bo’ystill a bo’ybut a fierce bo’y nowa royal bo’y nowa bo’y worthy of beg lled queenwhat a dazzlg seto turn a bo’y to a lie everyone lov to look atthe bo’y looks at selfthe bo’y se all the gawkg at s glossthe bo’y hears all the mass askg for s missgthe bo’y offers all of s letters— ‘ b ’ for the birth— ‘ o ’ for the operatn— ‘ y ’ for the lack left s genwhat this bo’y would abandonfor the risk of  beg realthe bo’y is realenough and too muchexistg as s own erasure— what an elive d —evadg removalavoidg regnnleavg jt a bo’ythat is never lostbut n’t be found2"Dear Gaybashers" by Jill McDonoughMIGUEL SCHINCARIOL/AFP/Getty ImagWrten 2014, “Dear Gaybashers” by Jill McDonough is a mt-read for everybody, but pecially those who thk their tnts and jabs will sre off the LGBTQ+ muny om livg and lovg their life.

POEMS / GAY POEMS - THE BT POETRY ON THE WEBNEWTMARIA MORISOT   FOLLOWON JUL 16 2023 07:59 PM PST  RAISG NOAH'S FLAG

They are strong, they are uned, and they uldn't re ls what you night we got bashed we told Rty howthey drove up, yelled QUEER, threw a hot dog, sped Now, is that gaybashg? Youmissed lghg at , nfed, your raw hot dog on the and Rty and Bob make fun of the gaybashers, and Iwash my srf the sk. 3“Gay Pri Weekend” by Brenda ShghnsyThis LGBTQ+ poem by Brenda Shghnsy touch on an experience she had wh a lover and discs how they’re brought together by their past trmas and how wonrful is to be out, loud, and proud.

4“The 17-Year-Old and the Gay Bar” by Danez SmhDanez Smh’s LGBTQ+ poem about a 17-year-old a gay bar tells the story of feelg like you belong, and feelg like they mt be heaven to have found others like them and to be g-heavy heaven, blsed ground to thk gay & mean the fake id & the bouncer who knewthis need to be need, to belong, to know howa man taste full on vodka & ee of s.

POEMS / GAY LOVE POEMS - THE BT POETRY ON THE WEBNEWTKENRYU JOSHUA   FOLLOWON FEB 16 2023 05:38 PM PST  BEE I WANTED YOU TO KNOW

I want to live on his tongue, build a home of gospel & gayetyi want to raise a cy behd his teeth for all boys of choirs & closets to refuge .

9"A Queerifitn" by Regie CabiDANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/Getty ImagAnother excerpt, this piece om “A Queerifitn” preach acceptance, inty, and that scriptns like 'queer' really don't mean anythg the bigger me shift me transgrs me tell my stunts i’m gay tell chick fil a i’m queer tell the new york tim i’m straight tell the mail man i’m a lbian tell amerin airl i don’t know what my genr is like melikg youlike summer blockbter armrt datarmrt cematic loveelbow to forearm the dark humor me queerly fill me wh lghter make me high wh queer gas prs me om centuri of spanish quisn& self-righteo judgment10"Exclively On Ven" by Trace PetersonHere’s an excerpt om Trace Peterson's “Exclively on Ven. Both the doctor and the patient are the same age, both are gay, and the poem is an credible look at the emotnal attachment between the two men, both as patient and doctor, and as gay day, I drew his blood, and while I didHe lghed, and said I was his girliend now, His blood-brother. DING **** MY KIDNAPPER IS DEAD, THAT IS WHY I ALLOWED TED BUNDY TO TAKE ME YEAH, I WANTED TO KIDNAP MY KIDNAPPERHOPING THE SPIRIT WORLD CAN **** MY KIDNAPPER, OH YEAHI KNOW IT’S ****** HARD, CAUSE, THE SCHITZOPHRENIA, WAS GIVING ME THE ****** YRGEI FOUND IT HARD TO RID THE URGE, SO I MADE TED BUNDY’S GHOST TIE ME UPBUT THIS MADE ME FIGHT MY FATHER, AND FORCE ME ON MEDICATIONWHICH MADE THE NICEST MAN, BUT MY KIDNAPPER KEPT COMING BACKDING **** I WANTED MY KIDNAPPER DEAD, I KNOW I ANNOYED A LOT OF PEOPLETRYING TO GRAB THEM OH YEAHI GRABBED A FEW SCHOOL MATES, AND THAT IS WHY I WAS TREATED LIKE A YEAH MATE YEAH KIDI WANT TO GET REOFORMED, BUT A VOICE SAID, NO YOUR NOR REFORMEDAND I WORKED AT THE RAINBOW, HELPING THE MENTALLY ILLAND I FELT LIKE A HAPPY CHIRPY COOL KID GOING TO THE BEACH AND BUSHWALKINGAND WORKING IN THE RAINBOW KITCHEN, AND NOBODY WANTED TO TEASE MECAUSE I HELPED TO GIVE THEM A MEAL, I WAS A COOL KID, AND VERY VERY CHIRPYAND THEN IN 2002, I FELT REALLY CRAZY, THE PARANORMAL SHOVING VOICES IN MY HEADWHICH WAS, I WAS THE KID, KILLED BY THE ******, THE AMERICAN ****** KILLED A KIDBUT I SAID I DREAMT IN THE REAL WORLD, SAYING THE KID HE KILLED WAS MEI STOOD MY LITTLE KIDNAPPING KID, OUT ON THE LONESOME, THE ****** KILLED MY CRAZY KIDNAPPERI AM NOT GAY, I RESPECT GAYS, BUT I AM NOT GAYI AM NOT A PHEDAPHILE, HAVING *** WITH KIDS IS REPULSIVEI AM NOT A CUDDLING KOOMARRI MAN, CAUSE THEY GET KILLED, I LIKE TO SAY THAT AT LEAST GAYS, HAVE A REASONTHE KOOMARRIS, ARE TOTALLY GEEKY, AS THEY CUDDLE UP TO YAI AM NOT GAY, HE SAID, I JUST LIKE TO CUDDLE MEN, NOT THAT THERE IS ANYTHING WRONG WITH GAYSI AM NOT GAY, I MADE MY CHOICE, TO BE A ******LIKE A ******, WHO PARTIES ALL THE FUCKEN TIME, LIKE A ****** BABY YEAHPARTY WITH ME, AND YOU AS WELL YO DUDEBUT TED BUNDY, ISN’T HASSLING ME NO MORE, I AGREED TO **** MY HOOLIGAN WHO GRABS KIDSAND IN JUP[ITER, I AM PREPARED TO SUFFER, FOR EVERY KID, AS CRONUS DOES DOTED BUNDY NOW HAS ME ******* TO THE LAMP POST ON JUPITERI PREFER THIS, RATHER THAN CUDDLING ******* KOOMARRI MENPRESUMING THAT I AM GAY, I AM STRAIGHT, MY PROBLEMS WERE WATCHING REALLY BAD KIDNAPPING ON TVAND MY LAST TWO LIVES KIDNAPPED AND KILLED AT AGE 8 GREAME THORNE ANDS PATRICK DUNBARI HAVE KILLED MY KIDNAPPER AND LEFT MY LITTLE DADDY’S SHY BOY WITH DAD, ON CLOUD 9SO I CAN ENJOY BATTLING THE YOU AND YOUR BROTHER AREN’T LIKE US VOICEBY DRINKING A BOTTLE OF COKE, I AM A COMPUTER **** KIDI WANT TO LOSE PAT’S VOICE, BUT WE HAD FUN TOGETHERI WANT TO LOSE HIS VOICE, BECAUSE I DON’T WANT TO HEAR THESE DELLUSIONSOF HIM BEING A TEASING GAY MAN, CAUSE YOU HAVE TO BE CAREFUL TO TEASE NORMIESTHE WAY I USED TO TEASE THE MEN, WHETHER YOUR GAY OR NOTPEOPLE PRESUME THAT YOUR GAY, AND PUNCH AND **** YOUBULLYING LEADS TO KILLING, BRIAN ALLAN DOESN’T WANT TO BE KILLEDSO HE PREFERS TO GET RID OF HIS SHY BOY THE BRIAN ALLAN WAYCAUSE I HATE, THE IDEA IN HINDSIGHT OF BEING A LITTLE YOUNG DUDE LIKE THATIT WAS ALRIGHT WHEN I WAS YOUNG, WELL CRAWLING THROUGH DRAINPIPESAND RIDING OUR BIKES, AND PARTYING IN CLUBS WAS COOLBUT THE KIDNAPPING OR THE GAY ACTIVITY, REALLY AIN’T FOR MEI AM STILL DOING WHAT I USED TO DO, THE IMAGINATION BITART AND DRAWING, I WANT TO KIL MY KIDNAPPER AND HAVE TED BUNDY TIE HIM UP ON JUPITERAQND LEAVE MY DADDY’S LITTLE SHY BOY AS I SAID ON CLOUD 9 WITH DADWE HAVE TO STAND ON OUR OWN TWO FEETOH YEAH MY, HEART IS A PUMPING, AND MY LEGS ARE FITI WANNA STAND ON MY OWN TWO FEETI DON’T CARE WHAT MY VOICES SAYI PREFER FOR MY VOICES TO SAY BE AN ARTIST, BE A WRITER, BE A YOUTUBE PARTNER, BE A BUDDHISTI DON’T WANT TO HAVE ANY PART OF MY DADDY’S LITTLE SHY BOY IN ME, EVER AGAINMEDICATION, REINCARNATION, I AM COOL, HOW ABOUT A LITTLE CELEBRATIONSTOP THE CALLING ME WOOSEY, IN MY HEAD, CAUSE, IT’S FUCKEN DOWNGRADING YOU BIG *******I FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE AROUND GAYS, DOESN’T MEAN I HATE THEM, I HATE BEING TOLD I AM STILL GAY******* ****, *******, I AM NOT GAYDING **** MY KIDNAPPER IS DEAD AND MY LITTLE SHY BOY IS UP THERE WITH DEAR OLD DADI AM A MAN WHO ENJOYS PARTYING, YEAH MATE YEAH, I AM NO ****.

A history lson: A faggot is a bundle of sticksOrigally ed as kdlg for fir that engulfed gaysWhen they were burned at the stake, people were firewoodBut Mos me across wood on fire and saw God , What is a burng bh but bundl of branchOn fire, isn't funny how faggots and God n look the same sometim?

GAY AND LBIAN WEDDG POEMS

Celebratg LGBTQIA+ Pri, June—and the rich tradn of gay, lbian, bisexual, transgenr, and queer poetry all year long—browse this selectn of poems by classic and ntemporary poets. The “ttimoni trials that never got heard” speak to p btaly, gaybashg, rape, an army hospal, a urt martial, a scene of domtic peace, and of erotic love—all servg to shift the loc of shame away om margalizatn and stigma (those external prosecutns of queerns, androgyny) and relote to our failur of passn and acuntabily for one another.

I’m almost sheepish to adm that I first heard of “I Sg the Body Electric” as a song (by tle only) om the 1980s movie “Fame, ” which self had poted me to a certa path of gay self-disvery. When I did, Whman’s all-clive sensualy and humany not only affirmed my own, but lead me to an unrstandg and eventual acceptance of my prec otherns and burgeong homosexualy, which I ially thought were viant feelgs. "Queer" by Frank BidartFor each gay kid whose adolcence was Ameri the forti or fifti the primary, the ccialscenarforever is g out—or not.

"The 17-Year-Old & the Gay Bar" by Danez Smhthis g-heavy heaven, blsed ground to thk gay & mean the fake id & the bouncer who knewthis need to be need, to belong, to know howDanez Smh is the thor of [sert] boy and Don't Call Us this poem full here. “I’m gay likealmostlike lipslike the closet is cracked openbut some days I have to walk myself put my bt femme forwardat the job terview, the mega-b statn, my grandpa’s funeral I’m gay likeevery time I ll myself gaythe men my life take upon themselv to saywell what about ben, what was that then?

POEMS / GAY PRI POEMS - THE BT POETRY ON THE WEBNEWTSENSUALVIRTUOSO   FOLLOWON MAY 08 2014 09:17 AM PST  FREEDOM

I’m gay like my only straight iend jt me outShe said she would’ve known sooner if not for the folks always photoshoppg her weddg picturAnd I’m gay like my girliend n build heaven wh her left handI’m the clost she to touchg relign. Curtis Fox: On a pletely different note, you’ve listed a fairly explic poem by Essex Hemphill, the gay Ain Amerin poet who died of AIDS 1995.

In the early 90s, poets and wrers and gay and lbian and bisexual and transgenr people, queers, were not particularly ncerned on the whole wh gay marriage. Andrea Lawlor: Over the last century of queer intify, queer culture, I thk people have found solace and refuge and safety relatnships, whether they’re monogamo relatnships, polyamoro relatnships, iend relatnships wh other gay people, the muny.

Edward Heath was told poet should be led out over ‘utterly revoltg’ vers about gay sex and Aun’s cisn to be an Amerin cizen. He was one of the most acplished poets of the 20th century, but WH Aun was emed unsuable for the role of poet lreate after wrg a “filthy” pornographic poem that would “brg disgrace” on the Heath, the Conservative prime mister, was told 1972 that Aun - prevly scribed by officials as “probably the bt poet” alive - had wrten “utterly revoltg” vers about gay sex, meang that together wh his cisn to bee an Amerin cizen he should be led out.

GAY POEMS

Before the 2015 SCOTUS lg, the Massachetts Supreme Judicial Court lg that ma the state the first to legally regnize same-sex marriage was the most popular readg durg gay weddg ceremoni. There are several quot and poems we uld pull om legendary poet and gay rights activist Maya Angelou that would feel at home a ceremony, but the them of bravery and love her "Touched by an Angel" prose are a betiful, and obv, choice for LGBTQ upl. The sexual act scribed by the poem microspic physlogil tail is "Platonic" only the popular sense that is perfect of s 's sce bee mon nsens that, y, the openly gay wrer did e his skills to whip up an erotic medatn on Afternoon Delight.

Wrers and garners Ross Gay and Ts Taylor and about what garns and poetry n brg — cludg the remr to breathe and nourish the body and soul.

ROSS GAY POEMS

Lik: Naybah H., Michele Gay, Daron Horne, Eve 831, Lorenia, Merlspielen, Pram, John Craig, SentimentalPixie, Patrice B, Nanunak9, Dennisturner19, Annlow1, Bytmc, LAWRENCE MAYS, Ante Hershey, Shanna3To reply, click a ment. Nicely renred Michele Gay: Bon ment for beg a paid member on Jul 28 2016 03:44 PM PST x ed Nanunak9 - Hntg, good wre //$ on Jun 26 2016 01:06 AM PST x ed Michele Gay Followon Jun 26 2016 12:10 AM PSTI started wrg poetry high school.

‘A Small Needful Fact’ by Ross Gay is a short movg poem that suggts that there is still hope to be found after someone’s ath. Alln: om the begng of the poem, Gay allus to the life and impact of Eric Garner, a black man who was killed New York Cy 2014. Gay may have wrten this poem om his own perspective, but knowg who the speaker is is not necsary for unrstandg the poem.

GAY

If Ross Gay’s 2015 llectn Catalogue of Unabashed Gratu associated the poet wh a posture of thanks, nfirmed the 2019 Book of Delights, his most recent offerg, Be Holdg, published last fall, sps this theme of gratu om a poetics to a polics. This gratu enpass a list of wrers whout whom, Gay sists the ditn, “The poem do not exist”—Saidiya Hartman, Fred Moten, Christa Sharpe, and San Sontag, among others.

Most of the nam are repeated the acknowledgments, which Gay begs wh a this of sorts: “Nothg I wre I wre by myself: Everythg I wre, by which I mean everythg, I wre wh and for and om others, which is a way of sayg, always, bt. ” Gay go on to name dozens of fluenc, some s quotg l that showse his beholn-ns, which extend to a rich “leage”: poets June Jordan and Amiri Baraka, elogist Rob Wall Kimmerer, artist Carrie Mae Weems, theologian J. Gay suat this overflow of gratu explic ntrast to “the world-stroyg horsh palist nightmare fantasy of the dividual” that ph wrers to image their selfhood as pennt on pennt makg, not the gifts of others.

In this way, highlightg all this poetic bt is a direct refal of the anxiety of fluence, a theory fomented by lerary cric Harold Bloom 1973, the year before Gay was born, which sists that wrers evably pete wh their lerary anctors to assert their own origaly. Gay briefly adms to the prevailg expectatn of dividualy and origaly but ultimately rejects , ncludg, “Oh sh, ’s all been given to me. In a seri of associatns, often ma through the register of tre, water, and the sky, Gay likewise narrat his lookg at other imag— particular, three photographs—along wh rellectns om his childhood.

GAY PRI POEMS - POEMS ABOUT GAY PRI

Gay’s particular reference to photography allows him to terrogate the ethics of wnsg, and the poem sistently plays on the vlent unrton of photographic idms. The first photo to which Gay refers is the famo image of a two-year-old Black girl and her godmother, somehow ught mid-fall when a fire pe llapsed, and his terpretatn is damng. Gay nnects this lack of re for the Black woman and girl’s liv to a longer history of whe palist obssn wh property when he par the breakg fire pe to “a ship’s ck dismantlg a storm.

Is nstcted out of the words of the urt document, bearg wns to the liv of those massacred, and Gay nam Philip and her book his acknowledgments (“Of urse. Throughout the poem, Gay appli the repeated phrase—“thrown overboard / for the surance”—to suatns which Black people are sacrificed for whe nsumptn or enomic ga.

” But Gay is perhaps most famo for his poem “A Small Needful Fact, ” which memorat Eric Garner’s breath-givg work wh the “Parks and Rec.

BACKWARDS RHYME

As Gay v his rears to wns “the unwnsable” the willful photographic pture of this ltle girl’s retrmatizatn, he ps between dash to craft a muny of rg:. Dcribg the imaged scene of a photographer directg the ltle girl to look at the first picture, Gay terpts himself aga: “—Come on now. Gay’s implied ethics of wnsg nmns not jt the photographer but all who vis “the mm / of black pa, ” cludg “whe children / checkg their phon.

The next le sets up a noticg “we” ntrast to the unnoticg whe children, but I nnot be assured Gay unts me among this “we. Gay’s answer is an ethics of re, manifted not jt the vatn for his rears to breathe but the mute attentn he pays, aga and aga, to the imag, vio, and memori at the center of Be Holdg. In the wake of the horror of the photograph of fallg woman and child, Gay imag the re the woman gave a plant the photo, evince of her irrcible humany, and the re she gave the ltle girl, whom he imag she might “sop up” and “be / holdg her as the moon / drifts to the horizon // of the buildg across the way.

Gay brgs a siarly reful attentn to the figur and implied re the send photograph he scrib, this one of a grandmother and grandson. Gay se poverty—the woman’s drs “toward the knee has two hol”—but also evince of re: the boy’s “clean nim jacket, ” “crisply rolled cuffs, ” and “aviator hat’s goggl.

” Gay, by proximy, relat this grandmother’s re—cludg her obv awarens of the photographer’s aims to pture—to his “own whe mother, ” whom he rells fiercely protectg him and his brother agast racist mentary wh the “kniv” of her words: “my mother and her kniv / make a garn. ” He siarly memorializ the re of his father, who Gay remembers “held / my brother’s and my heads // through the crosswalk, ” held flowers, held his sons above the water at the beach. In this kd of wnsg—beholdg movement, beholdg joy—Gay lot a muny of “holdg each other”; not holdg one’s breath but holdg each other’s breath, a work of relatns that is a “practice.

” Gay repeats as the poem gallops to a close, s cls mostly short, attendg to the women’s photo, “we here / talkg about joy. Gay’s poem theoriz an ethics that is pably polil, and s ebullient gratu, fore and aft, reads not jt as an overflow of thankfulns but as a ncrete practice of the ethics Gay suggts.

Duffy is openly gay and has discsed her sexualy through poetry before, but often the ntext of love poetry, not tragedy.

The poem gaed notoriety through celebratn of the LGBTQ muny as well as through cricism for her last few l, “our children, are gay / And God is gay. By makg broad generalizatns like our children are gay and our God is gay, forc to nsir the entirety of the human experience. Middle School*********gay-***Did you hear that Brokeback Mounta is Victor’s favore movie Victor is gay Have you been cryg Where’s your boyiend Victor has *** wh children You’re gog to hell ****** Do you know what packg fudge is Gay Do you like what you see Your garn is cute Qu lookg at me *** Change the stall we don't have to watch you ******* I brought you some glter *** Gay **** ****** ****** *** Gay-*** **** Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay Gay That’s gay GayI’d skip lunch to lock myself a closet and, my kd and lovg mother, I never sought to be the other.

"A Small Needful Fact" was wrten by Amerin poet and profsor Ross Gay rponse to the ath of Eric Garner, a Black man killed by a New York Cy police officer 2014. Gay's poem allus to the words as discs the "small needful fact" that Garner was once a horticulturist—and that the oxygen-producg plants he nurtured life may have ma easier for others to "breathe. (She/Her)TOSHIThe founr and CEO of Tokyo Rebels, the only gay-found molg agency the cy, workg to make the Japane fashn dtry more clive.

When I moved to LA, someone told me about Oil Can Harry’s, this gay bar that opened 1968 and did le dancg nights twice a week.