Félix Garmendía
author of
Flying On Invisible Wings , Poems of Reckoning and Hope & Fire Island and Their Sister
Félix Garmendía was a poet, HIV+ survivor, and disabled due to Inclusion Body Myositis. He married his husband and caregiver Denis in 2012.
Garmendía wrote about LGBT issues, which were very close to his heart. His life was carved around the experiences of surviving his early years in conservative Catholic Puerto Rico of the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. He arrived in Manhattan, New York City, in 1988. His poems narrate his life as a gay activist, a poet and a storyteller in the face of illness and intolerance.
He 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.”
He passed away January 18, 2026. From his obituary in The New York Times:
“Félix Garmendía left us in January, the coldest month of the year. For many of us, it was the last of the flame that was Félix’s fiery, enchanting life….In 1995, Félix was given a diagnosis of HIV. Seeing so many of his friends leave their lives, he wondered if it would be his turn to go. But an earthly miracle occurred, composed of Félix’s determination to live, a superb doctor and the new class of drugs that emerged at that time. After his amazing recovery which rendered his level of white blood cells undetectable, Félix then had to contend with ICBM, Inclusion Body Myositis, which eventually rendered him paralyzed, leaving him with the use of one finger only. But with that finger, he wrote and typed three books of poetry: Flying on Invisible Wings, Poems of Reckoning and Hope, and Fire Island and Their Sister (all published by Pearlsong Press). He was working on a fourth book, Of Art and Men, when he passed on. Félix wore his gayness proudly, as proudly as he greeted acquaintances and friends when he and [husband] Denis made their rounds of several parks in the Hudson Heights area. He also loved to play with various animal friends who greeted him, especially the dogs and parrots of friends. In his poetry, Félix spoke of both homes — Puerto Rico and Manhattan, as well as his beloved family. He also wrote of Fire Island, his and Denis’ summer place for many years. He wrote both sorrowfully and warmly of the people and years that fostered his identity as a disabled gay Latino poet.”