Poet Steven Reigns (Outliving Michael): "I'm Comforted Every Time I Remember Him"

Show Notes

Dennis is joined by his friend Steven Reigns to talk about his new collection of poetry, Outliving Michael, which is about a friend of Steven's named Michael Church who died of AIDS in 2000. Steven talks about meeting Michael first as his drag persona Blanche before getting to know him out of drag and becoming close friends. Steven reads several poems and talks about what made Michael so unique, from his withering wit to his love of gay nightlife (Michael was a bottle boy at Studio 54 for a summer) to his support of Steven as a writer. Steven also talks about what it was like to be a caretaker for Michael and why he feels like he would be much better at it today. Other topics include: Steven's ongoing art project The Gay Rub, where he collects rubbings from LGBTQ gravestones and monuments from around the world, how he knows when a poem is finished, whether or not that is cocaine on the coffee table pictured of the book cover and what he thinks Michael would think of Outliving Michael.

https://www.stevenreigns.com/