Once again, I dropped in for a guest post for pride month over at Deep Cuts In A Lovecraftian Vein. This time, I considered not only the poem Strange Waters, but also the way we view older works with problematic portrayals of queerness.
I think we go too far dismissing them as products of their time, especially when the author was a nonconformist like George Sterling.
This guy’s biography is wild (complimentary) and wild (derogatory).
If you’re interested in this poet who was virally famous in his lifetime yet entirely unknown to me (and, it seems, many other reasonably educated people), you can check out the references after the article. Or go down a rabbit hole researching artist’s colonies, which have existed in the US since the late nineteenth century (at least) when Emerson spearheaded a commune project.
My point is that where nonconformists gather, you’ll find queers. And though there’s better language for talking about our experiences as queer people now, we still existed in the past. We’re not new. We’re not an anomaly. And we’re not going away, no matter how hard you try to bury us.
Take a deep dive with me into some strange waters, and let’s see if we can fish out a few mermaids.
Thanks so much for reading!
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Horrorsong 