Pier Queen

Xavier, Emanuel

Literature & Fiction

Pier Queen Productions

Mikey is a spirited but self-destructive survivor of sexual abuse, a gay Latino native New Yorker caught somewhere between Catholic guilt and club kid decadence looking to fit in as part of a family. Instead, Mikey delves into a demimonde of petty thieves, prostitutes, and pushers. Haunted by a father that Mikey has never met, a difficult childhood, recurring nightmares, the reality of death, and Christ, the story unfolds through the 80 s and 90 s following him on his journey through a fascinating world filled with Santeros, transsexuals and voguing queens.

Christ Like

United States

Queer Mojo

Self-published as a chapbook in 1997, Pier Queen launched the career of spoken word artist and poet Emanuel Xavier with classics such as "Tradiciones" and "Nueva York" both featured on Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry and other poems which captured the voice of a generation of queer people of color. For the first time ever, this ground-breaking collection becomes available featuring snapshots taken at the West Side Highway piers throughout the years by photographer Richard Renaldi. This collaboration is a gift to the LGBTQ community and for those who may be interested in how pier queens became poets and great artists against all odds to inspire others to rise above adversity. Race, class and sexuality has become somewhat of a scholarly catch-phrase since American literature can now boast an extensive body of work that explores this nexus. But it's important to note that Emanuel Xavier's Pier Queen was a trailblazing early example for the newest generation of queer Latino writers. If ever art was a gesture of courage and activism, then there is no clearer evidence-this self-published collection of poetry that launched a career ... author Rigoberto Gonzalez, from the foreword to Pier Queen

Americano: Growing up Gay and Latino in the USA is a groundbreaking collection from one of the most provocative voices in modern American poetry. The poems contained in these pages challenge mainstream sexual, political and religious beliefs reflecting unique experiences from the outskirts of the heartland. In pursuit of the American dream, this is a tribute to freedom and equality from an insider looking out while enjoying a piece of both the apple and lemon merengue pie.

Americano

Poetry

With heartfelt honesty, Emanuel Xavier's fourth full-length poetry collection Nefarious welcomes the reader into the later second act of a former underage prostitute. This book captures insights into his private world; relationships, heartbreaks, life as a spoken word artist, time spent with his cat, aging. With a dose of dark humor, Xavier s pleasure in the written word and his passion makes this an engaging collection.

Nefarious: Poems

About the Author\nPoet and activist, Emanuel Xavier was born in Brooklyn, New York, and became involved in the ball scene as a homeless gay teen. Over a span of twenty-five years, Xavier has received recognition as a spoken word artist from national colleges and universities. He has been named an LGBTQ Icon by The Equality Forum and has been presented a New York City Council Citation Award. Xavier has received an International Latino Book Award, Lambda Literary Award nominations and American Library Association Over the Rainbow Books selections for his collections which include: Pier Queen, Americano, If Jesus Were Gay, Nefarious, Radiance and Selected Poems of Emanuel Xavier. He is also editor of Me No Habla With Acento: Contemporary Latino Poetry, Bullets & Butterflies: queer spoken word poetry and Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry. He is the recipient of a Gay City Impact Award and The Marsha A. Gomez Cultural Heritage Award. The author and editor of several books, Xavier continues to read his work across the country.\nAn American Library Association Over the Rainbow Books selection, Emanuel Xavier's If Jesus Were Gay pulls no punches and is brutally frank about his views on sexuality, politics, and religion. Yet as deeply personal as these poems are, they are universal enough to move any reader. Both sacred and profane, it is a compelling and confessional collection from a daring and ambitious voice in contemporary poetry.

If Jesus Were Gay

About the Author\nPoet and activist, Emanuel Xavier was born in Brooklyn, New York, and became involved in the ball scene as a homeless gay teen. Xavier has received recognition as a spoken word artist from national colleges and universities. He has been named an LGBTQ Icon by The Equality Forum and has been presented a New York City Council Citation Award. Xavier has received an International Latino Book Award, Lambda Literary Award nominations and American Library Association Over the Rainbow Books selections for his collections which include: Pier Queen, Americano, If Jesus Were Gay, Nefarious, and Radiance. He is the recipient of a Gay City Impact Award and The Marsha A. Gomez Cultural Heritage Award.\nFor the first time ever, a selected poetry collection from Emanuel Xavier, renowned LGBTQ poet and one of the Latinx community's treasures.\nWhen he first emerged as a Nuyorican Poets Café slam poet in the 1990s, Emanuel Xavier quickly took his place as one of the first openly queer, celebrated, controversial and significant poets of the era. Now, decades later, as a former homeless teen and a hate crime survivor, Xavier still stands as one of America's most inspiring and powerful voices.\n"Gay Nuyorican life is limned and exalted in these scintillating poems. Xavier, a fixture at Nuyorican Poets Cafe slams in Manhattan and a star of HBO's Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry, gathers 28 poems that infuse searing social and political commentary into achingly personal reflections. Many paint a panorama of New York that is bustling and vibrant: 'Ricans and Dominicans drive around / with black-faced virgins and saints on their dashboards / blasting rap and freestyle / down the streets.' The poet's collection conveys his struggle as a gay man in an often homophobic culture in tones that range from the bruised confessional in 'Deliverance' ('Wiping / myself / staring at the blood / shit / scum / from the last trick / that once again / left me bruised / deep inside') to the prophetic voice of 'If Jesus Were Gay.' ('If the crown of thorns were placed on his head / to mock him as the / 'Queen of the Jews' / If he was whipped because fags are considered / sadomasochistic sodomites, / If he was crucified for the brotherhood of man / would you still repent?') There's a lot of pain from separation and repudiation in Xavier's verse-from his biological father's abandonment of the family, his mother's rejection of his gay sexuality, and America's disdain for Latino immigrants. The volume is thus full of poetic portraits of outsiders and castoffs that can take strange and hallucinatory forms, as in 'Bushwick Bohemia, ' where a slacker is 'lying shirtless on the couch blunted out of his mind / staring at the roach on the ceiling / one single roach in a vast desert / or maybe an alien exploring a new world'-a grungy, Kafkaesque yet somehow hopeful and even liberating tableau of arrival and persistence. And the poet's life generates bleak, bracing wisdom in 'Beside Myself': 'You are not going to be remembered. / The best thing you ever did was keep a cat / alive for over sixteen years. / All you have is that rent-stabilized apartment / with the cracked paint and broken windows.' Xavier's many fans (and newbies as well) will be entranced by his evocative language, subtle rhythms, and fearless gaze." -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Selected Poems of Emanuel Xavier

Love(ly) Child

Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry

Independently published

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Xavier, Emanuel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Xavier, Emanuel

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Xavier, Emanuel. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Pier Queen

Christ Like

Pier Queen

Americano

Nefarious: Poems

If Jesus Were Gay

Selected Poems of Emanuel Xavier

Love(ly) Child

Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry