"Like many readers, I suspect, I have often found myself wondering whether overly obtuse or encoded poems are worth the effort. 'Just try' might be the operating mantra of this collection. Just try to understand what the poet is saying, Burt urges. Reading her essays is like sitting in class with your favorite English professor: Resistance is futile. Just try to dislike or dismiss the poems that she has chosen to investigate." - Dale Boyer, Gay and Lesbian Review

"This deft and thoughtful anthology of poems about queerness is a strong addition to any library collection." - Autumn West, Library Journal

"Well selected and compulsively readable…Burt’s insightful commentary draws throughlines between eras and poets, making this a valuable text for the classroom and a dynamic and comprehensive collection for casual readers of contemporary poetry." - Publishers Weekly

"What a gift, this book, one I wish I had in my personal library and in my super gay life much earlier. Stephanie Burt is a vital thinker, offering witty, fun, aesthetically perceptive, and politically astute reflections on the work of an astonishing range of poets." - Chen Chen, author of Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency

"Stephanie Burt has woven a raucous rainbow flag from our contributions—the contributions of fags, dykes, enbys, trans folk, and queers—to poetry in the past four decades. This essential book needs to be on every poetry reading list and on every queer studies syllabus." Rajiv Mohabir, author of Whale Aria

"Stephanie Burt has given us not just a guide to queer poetry but a new way of thinking about beauty, passion, and the passage of time. Absolutely indispensable." - Charlie Jane Anders, author of All the Birds in the Sky