Carl Robert Morse (1934-2008) was a gay editor, poet, playwright, and activist.

Born in Skowhegan, Maine in 1934, Carl Morse studied English and foreign languages at Yale University. He was also a Fulbright scholarship recipient (1956-58). His early career was established as an editor and translator for various publishing companies, some of his early translations include the works of André Maurois and EM Forster.

In the 1970s, Morse collaborated as a writer for the Medicine Show Theatre Ensemble. From 1972 to 1977, he was the director of publications of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. During the 1980s, in collaboration with Rev. Paul Abels of Washington Square Methodist Church, he organized Open Lines, a gay, lesbian and pro-feminist poetry reading series. In 1989 he became a Fellow New York Foundation for the Arts.

Morse's poetry and plays appear in publications such as 'Not Love Alone: A Modern Gay Anthology' (1985), 'Three New York Poets: Poems by Mark Ameen, Carl Morse and Charles Ortleb' (1987), 'Gay and Lesbian Poetry In Our Time' (1988), 'Fruit of Your Loins: Four Plays by Carl Morse' (1995), and 'Columbia Anthology of Gay Literature' (1998). As a playwright his work was produced in New York and London, titles include 'Annunciation,' 'Breeder Slime Never Die: Three Comedies of Fertility and Free Will (Minimum Wage, Shootout! or He Died for Beauty, and Dover Beach),' 'Bruce Spruce, Fairy Fuck-In,' 'Flesh and Blood in Cincinnati,' 'Impolite To my Butchers,' and 'Sunshine State.'