Monday, May 15, 2006
Spies, lies, and poetry
As many of us suspected, the administration has been lying to us all along about the extent of the NSA's telephone surveillance program. Turns out they have been collecting information on our phone communication all along - quelle surprise! They lie about the reasons to go to war; they lie about the treatment of prisoners; they lie about the very existence of certain prisons and prisoners; they lie about spying on us. They lie. Remember this, the next time you read any official statement from this administration. The odds are - it's a lie.
In this climate of suspicion, it is all the more moving to me to read a poem like "Lavender Wedding," by Shane Allison: a manifesto of celebratory resistance to the atmosphere of fear and conformity. The poem, which I found in Robert Giron's wonderful anthology, Poetic Voices Without Borders, is a stunning assertion of love in the face of all the hatred in the world - just by describing a super-queer wedding:
Please invite me to the wedding, Shane. You can read some of Shane's more pornographic poems here.
In this climate of suspicion, it is all the more moving to me to read a poem like "Lavender Wedding," by Shane Allison: a manifesto of celebratory resistance to the atmosphere of fear and conformity. The poem, which I found in Robert Giron's wonderful anthology, Poetic Voices Without Borders, is a stunning assertion of love in the face of all the hatred in the world - just by describing a super-queer wedding:
My husband to be will look stunning
in his lavender Christian Dior wedding dress imported from Paris.
...
The priest will be a Michael Jackson impersonator.
The reception will be held at the House of Chicken and Waffles,
where Debbie, employee of the month, will catch the bouquet.
Wally, the four hundred pound, stubble-faced cook,
who smokes stink cigars, where the ashes
occasionally fall in the blueberry pancake mix,
will have the pleasure of pulling the garter belt
from my husband's thigh with his teeth.
Please invite me to the wedding, Shane. You can read some of Shane's more pornographic poems here.
