POETRY IS QUEER is a kaleidoscope of sexual outlaws, gay icons, Sapphic poets, and great lovers -- real and imagined -- conjured like gateway drugs to a queer world. Claiming the word queer for those who self-proclaim the authority of their own bodies in defiance of church and state, Kirby pays tribute to gay touchstones while embodying both their work and joy. From gazing upon street boys with constant companion C.P. Cavafy, to end of day observances with Frank OHara, to mowing Walt Whitmans grass, POETRY IS QUEER is a hybrid-genre memoir like no other.