A Journal of Gay and Queer Poetry
Issue 27 January 2026

Assaracus: A Journal of Gay and Queer Poetry, Issue 27 (January 2026), is edited by Bryan Borland and published by Sibling Rivalry Press, founded in 2010 and based in Little Rock, Arkansas. It features ten poems by Jack Fritscher, listed below, along with work by Kevin Bertolero, Theresa Davis, Alex Gildzen, David Trinidad, and other poets.

Ten Poems by Jack Fritscher

The Mineshaft: 835 Washington Street ,The Meatpacking District
Mapplethorpe
Mapplethorpe and Me: A New York Love Affair
Moonlight Serenade: Summer 1939
Dancing to Remember
For Federico Garcia Lorca
For Any Warhol, Nico, and the Velvet Underground
A Husband Drives Into a Clark Gas Station: Michigan 1969
The Young Turks Dream of Derek Jarman
Old Souls Last Night on YouTube in 1903

Introduction from ASSARACUS
Jack Fritscher: LIVE AGAIN

Jack Fritscher, the founding Editor-In-Chief of the San Francisco version of Drummer magazine (1977–1979), pro-actively solicited many poets’ erotic work for the magazine. Born in 1939, he was the bicoastal love of Robert Mapplethorpe whom he has poetized often. His own first poem was published in 1957 and dozens of others have appeared in The James White Review, The Josephinum Review, The Homosurrealism Journal, and many other magazines and poetry anthologies. He is the winner of the Orgasmic Poetry Festival Award (2000) and the National Leather Association’s “Living in Leather” poetry award (2020). He earned his doctorate at Loyola University of Chicago in 1967 writing about the poems and plays of Tennessee Williams. His thirty books of gay history and fiction, including his signature novel, the 1990 Lammy Award Finalist, Some Dance to Remember 1970-1982, are posted free to all readers and researchers at JackFritscher.com.

Assaracus: A Journal of Gay and Queer Poetry
Edited by Bryan Borland
Sibling Rivalry Press 2026
ISBN 978-1-934977-89-5

Poets Included in this Collection:

Kevin Bertolero
Theresa Davis
Jai Dulani
Jack Fritscher
Alex Gildzen
Mickie Kennedy
Drien Thompson
David Trinidad
Al Vansickle
Matthew Williams
Bryan Borland