Capturing Fire is an international spoken word and poetry that takes place in Washington DC. Poets gather for panel discussions, workshops, performances, and of course a poetry slam. Fortunately some of the best queer poetry performances over the years have been captured on video and have been viewed hundreds, some even thousands of times on youtube. Our most popular video by featuring Joanna Hoffman has over 80,000 views! Unfortunately, we do not have video footage from 2015 which include some of my favorites, including performances by Lady Dane Edidi and Venus Selenite. Still, over the years we have amassed an amazing collection of queer poetry. I offer below, ten of my favorite performances from Capturing Fire featuring some truly amazing queer poets.
Joanna Hoffman – Pride
Patience Rowe – Freedom Piece
Sam Sax: After My Boyfriend’s DragShow
trigger warning – hate violence
J Mase III – Ally Fail
J.T Bullock – This Dance Floor
Shyla Hardwick – Worms
Regie Cabico – It’s not so much his kiss I recall…
Jessica Genia Simon – For the Jewish Queers
Paul Tran – On Beauty (For Queer Colored Boys)
trigger warning – sexual assault
Gabe Moses – Stimming
If you liked these poems, you can find more on the Center Arts youtube page. You can also follow Capturing Fire on Twitter or like Capturing Fire on Facebook.