Walta Borawski (October 15, 1947 – February 9, 1994) was an American poet.

Early life

Walta Borawski was born on October 15, 1947, in

Patchogue, New York Patchogue (, ) is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Suffolk County, New York. The population was 11,798 at the time of the 2010 census. Patchogue is part of the Town (New York), town of Brookhaven, New York, Brookhaven, on ...

, where he attended high school. His poem "Cheers, Cheers for Old Cha Cha Ass" recounts the pain of school homophobia. Borawski graduated from

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...

Career

After college, he became the first arts editor of the '' Poughkeepsie Journal''. He moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

in 1975. He published two collections of poems: ''Sexually Dangerous Poet'' and ''Lingering in a Silk Shirt''. In 2022, Rebel Satori Press published ''Invisible History: The Collected Poems of Walta Borawski'', edited by Philip Clark and Michael Bronski, which includes both published collections along with uncollected work. His poems "Some of Us Wear Pink Triangles" and "Power of One" are included in ''The Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature : Readings from Western Antiquity to the Present Day'' and "Invisible History", "(No title)," "Things Are Still Sudden & Wonderful," "Traveling in the Wrong Century," and "Trying to Write a Love Poem" are included in ''Persistent Voices : Poetry by Writers Lost to AIDS'', edited by David Groff and Philip Clark.

Personal life

Borawski was the partner of Michael Bronski. They met on June 23, 1975, and remained together until Borawski's death on February 9, 1994.

Robert Giard Robert Giard (July 22, 1939 - July 16, 2002) was an American portrait, landscape, and figure photographer. Life A native of Hartford, Connecticut, Giard majored in English literature and received a B.A. from Yale University in 1961, then an M.A. i ...

photographed the two together in 1987 for his series ''Particular Voices''. They are also featured in the anthology ''Two Hearts Desire: Gay Couples on their Love'', originally published in 1997, and republished in digital format in 2017. He died on February 9, 1994, of complications from AIDS, at his home in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borawski, Walta 1947 births 1994 deaths American gay writers American LGBT poets American male poets 20th-century American poets People from Patchogue, New York 20th-century American male writers LGBT people from New York (state) AIDS-related deaths in Massachusetts 20th-century LGBT people Gay poets