Southern Roots, Queer Reckonings

Born and raised in rural North Carolina, Mickie Kennedy is a gay poet who explores queerness, family, illness, and what it means to rebuild after trauma and tragedy. His work is a window to an integral time in gay history, when AIDS was its zenith and sex was synonymous with death. His debut poetry collection, Worth Burning, will be published by Black Lawrence Press in February 2026, and his chapbook, Glandscapes, won Button Poetry’s 2025 Chapbook Prize. Recent poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, POETRY, The Threepenny Review, The Southern Review, The Sun, Copper Nickel, Nimrod, and Black Warrior Review. 

 

Kennedy earned an MFA in creative writing from George Mason University, where he studied with Carolyn Forché. When he’s not writing, he runs eReleases, a national press release distribution company that helps small businesses earn real media coverage. He lives with his husband and grown children, splitting time between Baltimore County, Maryland and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.