A poem entitled “Queer” will certainly make a statement about homosexuality; in the case of Frank Bidart’s poem of the title, the statement is that heteronormativity (that is, the belief that humans fall into the distinct genders of man and woman) exists, and also explores how rebelling against heteronormativity and embracing yourself can make one happier and more at peace with their sexuality and with their self.

The cleverly simple title of the poem immediately forces readers to identify homosexuality as a major theme in the poem, coloring everything preceding it with the tone. The poem’s body opens with italicized text, providing a different voice for the italics versus the majority of the text. The italics only appear twice (Birdart, lines 1-2, 22-24) and both times elicit a response from the primary speaker of the poem: first concerning lying to one’s self (1-2) and then about the “self-loathing and terror” (24) that formed the doorway of the closet. There is a quality of exclusion established within the first stanza of the poem, using language like “them” and “they.” (5) Groups are formed: and with the implication of the title weighing on the audiences’ mind, those groups are composed of people who are queer, and people who are not. This line is drawn just as darkly as the line between male and female is drawn when categorizing traditional genders. You belong and are assigned to one group or the other, which is one of the bases of heteronormative culture. There is also a negative association with being in the out group.

so you can

lie to them. That’s what they want.

But lie to yourself, what you will

lose is yourself. Then you

turn into them. (4-8)

Being in the out group of heteronormativity seems to be a negative thing, but only because it means that you are not accepting and embracing yourself for you who you are as a member of the homosexual community.

We see the topic of central action in the poem arise in the second stanza:

For each gay kid whose adolescence

was America in the forties or fifties

the primary, the crucial

scenario

forever is coming out–

or not. Or not. Or not. Or not. Or not. (9-14)

The speaker clearly feels strongly about the moment of coming out, which is a crucial moment in life, particularly for support and acceptance from loved ones. America has not always been kind to the homosexual community; the idea of coming out is immediately followed by a repetition to do the opposite, an echo of the struggle of accepting one’s self and not following the implied heteronormative rules of being male or female, and to not be queer.

The next stanza is an isolated one-liner, calling attention to itself and the struggle it outlines: “Involuted velleities of self-erasure.” (15) The process of coming out is a complex and difficult one, but if you do not come out, you are at your own fault for erasing part of yourself. Part of the difficulties of this process undoubtedly lie with the question of if one will be supported in their community or world – heteronormativity makes it possible to be unaccepted or discriminated against, making the decision to openly identify as homosexual a difficult one. More clues about the heteronormative world of the poem are given in the fourth stanza.

Quickly after my parents

died, I came out. Foundational narrative

designed to confer existence.

If I had managed to come out to my

mother, she would have blamed not

me, but herself.

The door through which you were shoved out

into the light

was self-loathing and terror. (16-24)

There are two ways to look at the word confer: one is to see conferring as granting something to someone; the other is to have a discussion. In this context, the parents were either used as a basic life-giving foundation to grant life, or they could have been able to discuss what existence means. Given the following blame that the mother would have dealt is an indication that the parents were less of an educational basis for understanding homosexuality and coming out, striking the second definition of confer. Having parents who think that homosexuality is something that needs to have blame assigned is an indication in the belief that homosexuality is wrong; this in turn hints at the speaker’s mother’s homophobia, which is evidence of the heteronormative mindset that is awash in the poem, and the world that the poem creates in which the speaker resides.

The end of the fourth and entirety of the fifth stanza explores the idea of terror surrounding the metaphorical closet. Terror is “the door through which you were shoved out / into the light,” (22-23) meaning that passing through that terror of admitting and accepting yourself is a journey that is well worth it in order to get into the light. The last stanza thanks that self-loathing and terror (24) were integral parts of the journey of coming out. The difficulty and perhaps even violence of coming out is shown through the use of the adjective shoved, implying that the journey was not a smooth one. The last portion of the fifth stanza is very directed at someone else:

You learned early that adults’ genteel

fantasies about human life

were not, for you, life. You think sex

is a knife

driven into you to teach that. (26-30)

The use of the word genteel with the relationship to fantasies is an adjective to think about sexual intercourse: adults in the out-group of the speaker – adults who are not queer – have polite fantasies and have a violent stigma against sex itself, as seen in the metaphor in lines 28-30. The rony of polite fantasies about sex is that fantasies may be as wild or perverted as one may desire – as fantasies, sexuality is not something to be ashamed or embarrassed of, and the speaker clearly believes that whomever they are addressing believes that, and that those tame fantasies are not what life is about. Terror is something that was helpful against this boring, exploratory mindset, and allows the idea of sex being a knife to not be part of the speaker’s reality – their rebellion against heteronormativity and collected fantasies is something that the speaker is thankful for, perhaps even despite the fear that is associated with coming out of the closet. The final stanza is evidence that not everyone is tied to heteronormativity, and in thanking terror, the speaker shows that they are happier with their difficulties and stigma against homosexuality than complying with the heteronormative ideas on sex and fantasies.

“Queer” is carefully composed to show difficulties of dealing with heteronormativity in each stanza: it is a reality for non-heterosexuals to face, and “Queer” encourages one to fight against heteronormative society and be confident and happy with oneself by embracing one’s self by coming out, and to not “lie to yourself.”