Nuyorican Poets scene<\/a> where he began to find his voice during a period when LGBTQ+ voices weren\u2019t as openly welcomed.<\/p>\n\u201cI never held back from sharing my truths to an audience because it was bigger than me; it was about sharing my experiences to help others be true to themselves and speak openly about their experiences,\u201d Xavier said.<\/p>\n
There, he found a supportive audience and began to develop his style. He became more confident, which helped define his work.<\/p>\n
His first collection<\/p>\n
In 1997, he self-published his first poetry collection, \u201cPier Queen,\u201d which captured the voice of a generation of queer people of color. \u201cI came to poetry in a very unconventional means; I was considered a street poet,\u201d Xavier noted.<\/p>\n
Despite the obstacles he faced throughout his life and career, Xavier found love. He married his husband, Brian Berger, in 2018. <\/p>\n
The ceremony was held at Casa Belvedere on Grymes Hill, and the couple moved to Staten Island shortly afterward, where they have lived since early 2019. They initially lived in the Mid-Island and now reside in the Woodrow area.<\/p>\n
Looking back, Xavier said his upbringing shaped his poetry. \u201cIt inspired me to write,\u201d he said. He wrote a poem called \u201cBushwick Bohemia,\u201d about learning to love the place he had come from and appreciate it.<\/p>\n
Now, living openly as a gay man on Staten Island, Xavier said, \u201cEarly queerness becomes a target, and I refuse to retreat. You know, living openly, walking and existing without apology becomes an act of defiance.\u201d He added that this commitment to visibility and authenticity continues to fuel his work.<\/p>\n
His new project<\/p>\n
Xavier has been writing since 1997 and spent more time with his new project, \u201cStill, We Are Sacred,\u201d than ever before. \u201cI was very intentional about the craft, revision, line, structure and silence,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Throughout his career, he was labeled a street poet, and while he honored where he came from, he didn\u2019t want that label to limit how his other work is valued. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had many ups and downs throughout my journey, but for me, this book is about showing range and depth \u2014 bringing the urgency of lived experience together with literary precision,” he said.<\/p>\n
He wants the poems to hold up not only on the page, but also in classrooms and quiet rooms. <\/p>\n
Xavier described the collection as \u201cclaiming the space of the poet whose voice is shaped by survival, not defined by it,\u201d which he says also inspired the book\u2019s title.<\/p>\n
What he wants readers to take away from the book is the importance of staying present and not retreating, Xavier said. Having survived homelessness, child abuse, and other hardships, he feels fortunate to have lived longer than many of his peers. <\/p>\n
Staten Island\u2019s poetry community<\/p>\n
Xavier said he is most inspired by what is often overlooked: Staten Island\u2019s poetry community and its connections to the rest of New York City. <\/p>\n
He discovered a dynamic scene in the borough, shaped by social and political contradictions that influenced his work.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat people forget [are] people like Audre Lorde, who lived and wrote on Staten Island for years. She produced…Black, feminist, and queer work while raising a family. That fact alone challenges the idea that Staten Island sits outside of New York\u2019s intellectual and artistic lineage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Xavier said his biggest challenge when writing \u201cStill, We Are Sacred\u201d was finding time to slow down and reflect during the creative process. However, living on Staten Island has given him the space to be intentional in his writing. <\/p>\n
While the borough can feel physically removed from the rest of New York City, he never felt creatively disconnected. \u201cIf anything, being on the edge keeps me alert to what gets left out,\u201d he said, a perspective he believes shows up throughout the collection.<\/p>\n
Xavier hopes his poetry inspires younger queer and Brown readers by showing that visibility isn\u2019t just personal, it\u2019s generational.<\/p>\n
He wants his work, including his new project, to demonstrate that living authentically and creatively can leave a lasting impact on future generations, even for those he may never meet.<\/p>\n
Although Xavier is not performing as widely as he once did, he hopes \u201cStill, We Are Sacred\u201d allows readers to connect with his work across the world. He began writing in part to ensure that stories like his, once considered underground and overlooked, would not be forgotten. <\/p>\n
\u201cStill, We Are Sacred,\u201d is being published by Rebel Satori Press and will be available on all major platforms, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Goodreads.<\/p>\n
The book\u2019s pre-sale is available on Rebel Satori Press\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 Staten Island resident Emanuel Xavier is an author and poet whose work is rooted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-88095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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The author, Emanuel Xavier is set to release “Still, We Are Sacred” on April 7, 2026.Courtesy of Emanuel Xavier<\/p>\n