Poetry readings start tomorrow, so here’s the full schedule in one place:

📅 Mar 31, 8PM CST — Opensorcery Club (online) with @opensorceryy
https://discord.gg/7G5saXhy2b

📅 Apr 3, 6PM CST — REDROSETHORNS (Different With Him reading)
https://www.redrosethorns.com/event-details/a-reading-of-different-with-him-by-mk-zariel

📅 Apr 4, 2PM CST — Lion’s Tooth, Milwaukee (in person) with @opensorceryy
https://www.instagram.com/thechildanditsenemies/p/DVoYKe7kSI7/

📅 Apr 11, 7PM CST — Mania Mag (online)
https://www.instagram.com/p/DVtieeclVaz/

Online events are low-pressure to attend, and the Milwaukee stop is at one of my favorite indie spaces. Hope to see some of you there. ✨

#Poetry #PoetryReading #SmallPress #QueerPoetry #WisconsinWriters

It is striking, is it not,
the silence
of those you love
who do not love like you?
https://medium.com/prismnpen/limited-love-5047d1db486e?sk=8174d6659d938de6b5c106fcdda0e5a7

#LGBTQ #Poetry #QueerPoetry #Gay #Love

New at Last Grotto: "Never Mind" by Jacob Friesenhahn

An intimate meditation on desire, generosity, and loss—a speaker offers everything (time, gaze, mind) to the beloved while remaining uncertain whether anything of substance remains to be found:

You may drink
from the pools
my eyes have become,
though I would not blame you
if you have a taste instead
for fresh running waters.

Read the full poem on our philosophy and literature blog https://lastgrotto.net/posts/never-mind/

Originally published in Ginosko Literary Journal (#31, Winter 2023-2024), now at Last Grotto.

Jacob Friesenhahn is the author of The Prayer of the Mantis (Kelsay Books, 2025).

#poetry #contemporarypoetry #desire #QueerPoetry #PoetryMatters

They spoke of peace like something staged,
A note to sign, a war to cage,
A ribbon cut with practiced ease,
A photo op, a moment seized

Then came their Board of Peace, all smiles,
https://medium.com/prismnpen/threatening-all-complacent-order-poetry-966762e99f00?sk=f60ef1c8caa1f4ae3408fa61f4e87a4a

#LGBTQ #Poetry #QueerPoetry #USPolitics #Resistance

Tears of Loneliness stain her sheets,
a Transgender Woman longing for Love.

N0 money for love.
But, men want to pay,
it’s easier that way.
It’s true,
Can’t trade money for love...
https://medium.com/prismnpen/a-cheap-hotel-room-bed-dreaming-of-true-love-e38f7bdefd07

#LGBTQ #Poetry #Transgender #QueerPoetry

Thou shalt not kill.
But she did not comply
fast enough.
Fucking bitch.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/a-mothers-blood-a-poem-of-pigs-and-murder-375bf47db361?sk=7968a05b8377ce4097e128f71489a437

#LGBTQ #Poetry #QueerPoetry #ReneeGood #ReneeNicoleGood #ResistancePoetry

No one is interested in bellies well-fed
or writings of joy from my kind. Starve
a little, they say. Leave mascara smudged.
Amplify the pain...
https://medium.com/prismnpen/persona-a-poem-c52ba72e7729

#LGBTQ #Poetry #QueerPoetry #Exploitation #Representation

She was a lost soul,
wishing through a glory hole,
and where is her prince,
will he make her his princess?
https://patsystarke-62626.medium.com/a-lost-soul-and-a-glory-hole-a-somewhat-graphic-poem-f0490e66554b

#LGBTQ #Poetry #QueerPoetry #Transgender

They said it wasn’t hate at all,
Just “parental rights” and “safety first,”
While kids learned early how to flinch
And swallow fear before their thirst...
https://medium.com/prismnpen/queer-lives-in-clean-language-15f8e2fc7765?sk=40d2388ac1d10d994e643735cc008edb

#LGBTQ #USPolitics #Poetry #QueerPoetry #YearInReview