Speaking in Queer Tongues is a poetry workshop that takes seriously the idea that queer vernacular is not just slang or subculture. It is political in its own grammar and expressions—an open-ended space for reclaiming, resisting, and celebrating what has been imposed on us, often without our consent. From seizing back derogatory terms, slurs, and gay hook-up slang to embracing popular local queer language and Beyonce’s lyrics, this workshop insists on the endless possibilities that emerge when meanings are subverted, linguistic conformity is flirted with, and the pressure to translate everything into English is met with a suggestive wink.
In this workshop, we will read and write in whatever languages and expressions we feel most comfortable and honest—English, Dutch, Bahasa Indonesia, emojis, stickers, body language, sign language, hybrid forms, or even untranslatable words. Together, we will resist any pressure to overexplain or gloss over; we will simply witness each other’s poems as a political and creative act to reimagine the world that has been inhospitable for us.
This workshop is open to everyone, regardless of prior experience in writing poems. The facilitator, Hendri Yulius Wijaya, himself has never studied literary theory or poetry writing formally. Self-proclaimed as an ‘accidental poet’ or a ‘poet by coincidence,’ he began writing and experimenting with poems during the COVID pandemic to let his mind wander beyond the lockdown, drawing on his failed Grindr dates, porn he loved, books he read, and snippets from Indonesian queer history. Come and play with whatever tongue you have. If you can stick out your tongue at clubs or use it creatively in other random places.