NOTE
This poem was posted here several months ago, but it’s a good fit with The Rainbow Elegies for the last day of Pride Month 2026.

Rainbow Elegy #1
Rainbow Elegy #2
Rainbow Elegy #3
Rainbow Elegy #4

NOTE
Dr. Anthony Fauci served as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 until late 2022. In the 1980s and 1990s, Fauci drew furious criticism from AIDS activists, gay men in particular, who watched their loved ones die while NIAID and other federal agencies restricted access to clinical trials of treatments that might have saved lives. Some of Fauci’s critics later acknowledged his eventual engagement with the activists and praised his efforts to reshape federal policy. Many who lived through the epidemic have not forgotten that the policy changes came too late for the hundreds of thousands who had already died of AIDS.

Rainbow Elegy #1
Rainbow Elegy #2
Rainbow Elegy #3
Rainbow Elegy #5

NOTE
Longtime readers may have seen this poem before. It originally appeared in Rattle no. 81, spring 2020.

Rainbow Elegy #1
Rainbow Elegy #2
Rainbow Elegy #4
Rainbow Elegy #5

Rainbow Elegy #1
Rainbow Elegy #3
Rainbow Elegy #4
Rainbow Elegy #5

Rainbow Elegy #2
Rainbow Elegy #3
Rainbow Elegy #4
Rainbow Elegy #5