‘Howl and Other Poems’ by Allen Ginsberg is apparently one of the works by LGBTIQ+ poets to read. After its publication in 1956, the publisher, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, was arrested and charged with obscenity. Due to the publicity surrounding the trial (Lawrence was found not guilty), demand increased and more copies had to be printed.
And reading the poems, it becomes clear why people in the 1950s might have had a problem: the language is explicit and coarse. In his poems, Ginsberg criticizes the politics of the time and capitalism and describes sexual acts—straight and gay, even though ‘sodomy’ was a crime at the time.
CW: racist language
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