In his third book of poetry, Félix Garmendía celebrates the popular LGBTQ+ vacation destinations of Fire Island and commemorates Titania, a trans woman of Manhattan.
In his first book, Flying on Invisible Wings, Félix lives parts of his lonely childhood, journeys to the USA, becomes triumphantly accepted. Contracts HIV, hangs on, HIV becomes undetectable. Finds everlasting love, gets married. Then, as if daring him to stay happy, IBM—Inclusion Body Myositis— lands him in a wheelchair. He continues to live and love with his husband in Washington/Hudson Heights in Manhattan, and finds his poetic voice.
Félix's second book, Poems of Reckoning and Hope, explores his neighborhood, the pandemic, and January 6 and its ramifications. Yet he continues to hold out the possibility of hope through the USA's dire reckoning.
Now, in his third book, Fire Island and Their Sister, Félix sails out to Fire Island. Then we meet Titania, trans woman of Manhattan.
As we read Félix's loving and detailed poems about both, we enter the next stage of his life. And we cheer his deep and unquestionable support for and celebration of the people he knows and loves best.
Félix Garmendía is winner of the 2022 Rainbows in Chariots award for outstanding LGBT cultural contributions from those with different abilities, from Tupilak (Nordic rainbow culture warriors) and the International Lesbian and Gay Cultural Network (ILGCN): "for making beautiful rainbow contributions to photography and poetry; for confirming those LGBT cultural workers in wheel chairs, prostheses for arms or legs, those who are blind or deaf, or have other disabilities are indeed major pioneers of LGBT culture and heroes of our time; for confirming that LGBT culture is a mighty weapon against homophobia, intolerance, ignorance, invisibility and silence; and for proving the fact that when the colors of the rainbow are stretched over geographic and psychological barriers, they grow not weaker but more brilliant for any one willing to look up to the sky."