Thom Gunn began to love writing from an early age. He grew up in England, where homosexuality was rare and being gay made Gunn feel like he was an outsider. After moving to California, Gunn found a sense of community and happiness, until the AIDS epidemic broke out. Thom Gunn's life consisted of moments of liberation mixed with moments of sadness. His experiences are reflected through his poems. Thom Gunn, a well-known San Francisco resident who liked drugs, cooking, gardening and cats, did not hesitate to write what he thought in his poems. His works are famous for their homosexual theme. Gunn was a supporter of freedom and equality, which later led him to his openly homosexual poetry and theory of communal love. He describes many situations in his poems as “moments of joy”. In these periods, the imagination could range freely, allowing it to express itself. Born Thomson William Gunn, this Anglo-American poet seemed to love writing from the beginning, using his thoughts on life to give it a common theme of love. On August 29, 1929, Gunn was born in Gravesend, Kent, England to Father Bert Gunn (Poetry Foundation). He was the eldest son of two journalists who divorced when the poet was only ten years old. His mother tragically committed suicide during Gunn's adolescence; however, before her death, his mother had inspired a deep love of reading and writing in young Thom, including the writings of Marlowe, Keats, Milton, and Tennyson, as well as several prose writers (Poets.org). Gunn also began to experience the first signs of his homosexuality during this period, but was confused as to whether it was stress due to divorce and the loss of a parent, or whether it was something else that would happen later... middle of paper ......sexuality in Gunn's early poetry." The Ken yon Review. Np, nd Web. 19 April 2013. Gunn, Thom. Collected Poems. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1994. Print. BookGuthmann, Edward. "THE LIFE OF A POET / PART TWO: While friends died of AIDS, ThomGunn remained healthy - until his need to play hard killed him." SFGate Np, April 26, 2005. Web. Tom , drugs and Thom Gunn." Poetry Magazine, June 10, 2009. Web. April 19, 2013. "Thom Gunn." - Poets.org, n.d. Web April 19, 2013. Acknowledgments I would like to thank my wonderful English teacher, mmmmmm mmmm, along with our amazing librarian, mmmmm mmmml, for helping me research and edit my article. Without their help I wouldn't have been able to even start this project, let alone finish it.