Editorial Assistant Joel St. Peters recently connected with poet John Barton to discuss his poetry, the AIDS crisis, and the victimization of the queer community.
John Barton is the current Poet Laureate of Victoria. He has published eleven books of poetry and nine chapbooks. His most recent collection of poetry—a book of sonnets entitled Lost Family: A Memoir—has just been published, his first in six years. Three pieces from this new collection, “Bathhouse Raids, Toronto, 1981,” “HIV: A History,” and “Coda for the Victims,” were featured in The Fiddlehead’s Summer 2020 issue.