Queer Okayness & The Modernist Influence: A New Form of Queer Poetics in Ocean Vuong’s Night Sky with Exit Wounds

Author(s)

• Sophia Behnke, Augustana College, Rock Island IllinoisFollow

Course

WGSS-350: Queer Theories

Document Type

Student Paper

Publication Date

Spring 2026

Disciplines

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies | Literature in English, North America | Literature in English, North America, Ethnic and Cultural Minority | Poetry | Queer Studies

Description, Abstract, or Artist's Statement

This paper analyzes poems from Ocean Vuong's 2016 debut collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, as a contemporary evolution of queer modernist poetics from the early twentieth century. Using conceptual frameworks from Sara Ahmed and Audre Lorde, the author argues for the cultural power of poetics as an inherently queer art form which artists are constantly redefining. By studying how prominent lesbian and queer modernists disrupted heteronormative ideals through non-conformist poetic strategies, the author develops a comparison to Vuong's work as a contemporary queer poet who both draws from past forms and develops a more nuanced understanding of queerness through authentic and dynamic poetic narratives.

Comments

1st Place Winner, Long and Short Analytical Essays, 2026

Augustana Digital Commons Citation

Behnke, Sophia. "Queer Okayness & The Modernist Influence: A New Form of Queer Poetics in Ocean Vuong’s Night Sky with Exit Wounds" (2026). Audre Lorde Prize.
https://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/wollstonecraftaward/67

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.