Where Else To Go? Worldbuilding in the Work of Black Gender Non-Conforming Poets

Abstract

What can we learn from the ways Black queer gender non-conforming people create their own spaces of belonging? In Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics, Jose Esteban Muñoz (1999) states that Black queer people must “read [themselves] and [their] own life narrative” in a dominant sphere “that is not culturally coded to connect” with their identities (12). In the poetic form, Kopano Maroga, Aurielle Marie, and Alan Peleaz Lopez use their life narratives to create worlds that expand beyond the bounds created by oppressive systems in order to include themselves and their communities. This article explores the poets’ backgrounds and poetry in order to understand what constitutes safety for Black queer gender non-conforming people and what the public must change to achieve that safety. Further, the article explores each poet’s place of origin and upbringing, and how these inform the type of world they would like to see. This research aims to serve as a guide for considering how the worldbuilding done by Black gender non-conforming poets can be applied to our material reality