AustLit

It is always slightly unsettling discussing, even choosing, queer, or gay and lesbian, poetry. Later this year Puncher and Wattmann will publish an anthology of contemporary Australian gay and lesbian poets, edited by Michael Farrell and myself. Note, it's poets, rather than 'poetry'. Does that make a difference? Ever since I have been involved in literary publishing ventures, I have been wary of labelling various pieces of work, including my own. Can there be a lesbian poem? Do words have sexual preferences? Words operate in relationships, grammars, that readers make meanings from, or construct references within, even if poems may be written to disrupt given or singular meanings or against certitudes of reference.