Queer Futurity and Conflicted Feeling(s) in the Poetry of Ariadna G. García

Abstract

The work of Spanish poet Ariadna G. García (Madrid, 1977) occupies an unusual place within the archive of modern queer Spanish poetry. Collections like Construyéndome en ti (1997), Napalm. Cortometraje poético (2001), La Guerra de Invierno (2013), Helio (2014), and Ciudad sumergida (2018) are the product of a changing society in which poets can engage with questions surrounding queer participation in social institutions like couples and families as a concrete reality instead of imagined and anticipated future possibilities. The past(s), present(s), and future(s) that García’s poems explore highlight the potential that both negative and positive emotions have as sources of meaning for queer subjects and vehicles through which to imagine and think through potential alternative roles, identities, and opportunities. This poetry traces how poetic subjects who seek out social benefits and strive to make the most of fleeting moments of happiness and record past and present struggles for future generations stake out a complex position between hetero- and homonormativity and look beyond what José Esteban Muñoz has termed “the quagmire of the present.” Futurity in García’s work thus builds on positive affect in the present to imagine, project and cope with future moments, in the process demonstrating that queer utopianism need not rely on a negative view of the present to imagine a more inclusive future.