Queer patchwork assemblages: Three poetic vignettes

Between 2011 and 2023 I was traveling between New Delhi and Kolkata to research queer male intimacy and community making in India especially in the context of burgeoning digital queer spaces and queer organising around section 377. The poems here which come out of ethnographic vignettes during this work transcend traditional frameworks and delve deeper into the lived experiences and conditions that shape the possibilities for queer lives. They strive to understand the everyday realities and spatial dynamics that influence the quality and conditions of queer lives offering a more nuanced understanding of the complexities surrounding queer existence within the geographical context of India. Taken together these three poems work as patchwork assemblages. It points to the multiplicity and often dispersed and messy networks of affective encounters and queer belonging.