10 Poems for the YES Vote for Marriage Equality
A wild mix of political and love poetry to remind us why it’s so important to vote YES! on May 22nd for Marriage Equality.
1. Until We Could by Richard Blanco is an ode to Marriage Equality, this poem is unstoppable. From page to video – it triumphs on so many different levels. This poem is everything we can’t find the words to say. Richard Blanco has captured the intimacy of the right to marriage beautifully. [iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/Po9L684vzzw” align=”center”]
2. It is believed that A.e. Housman wrote Oh Who Is That Young Sinner as a criticism of society, when Oscar Wilde was imprisoned for practicing his sexuality. It’s sad that this is still relevant today. The playful tone and rhyming meter make the poem all the more jarring and necessary. You can have a read of it here.
3. Sarah Clancy is a force to be reckoned with, in Homecoming Queen she describes an intimate relationship between a same-sex couple. A triumphant marriage of social criticism, shame and love, this is the sort of poem that stays in your head long after the closing lines. [iframe id=”https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/191629231&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” align=”center”]
4. Thomas Gunn’s The Hug is a beautifully simple love poem. It celebrates a later love, a partnership that is more than lust and passion, one that has become familial. It can be read here.
5. Andrea Gibson is everything. I do is possibly my favourite of her poems. A piece about wanting to be able to marry her lover, so that she can share the simplest of the privileges this would afford her: visiting her love’s hospital bed when visiting hours are over.[iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/V8oGYyLDxFI” align=”center”]
6. A big old classic. W.B. Yeats is such a big old romantic. One of those love poems that stays with you forever, the sort of love we all deserve to feel and have recognised. I’m including this poem to advocate love, I suppose, because that’s really what this is all about. Read it here.
7. Dear Straight People was a YouTube phenomena. Denise Frohman gives us her take on Equality. A wonderful, insightful and heart breaking letter to straight people. [iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/5frn8TAlew0" align=”center”]
8. The best kind of political rant: a poetic political rant. Yes we can…but we haven’t is a poem that is just as true in Ireland as it is in America where Obama failed to fully support same sex marriage. [i[iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZLmb9RJRyFk” align=”center”]p>
9. W.H. Auden’s Foxtrot from a Play is about as charming and fun as it gets in terms of love poetry. A beautiful poem about loving what you love, simply because you love it. Read how simple it should be, right here.
10.Holly Painter paints a beautiful love poem in Will you? Better yet, and possibly the perfect note to end this list on, it might also be a proposal. [i[iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/JPiac851IHc” align=”center”]p>
