POEM: sweet violence

Posted 13 January, 2012 in My poems, Poetry, Politics & Activism

sweet violence

can come with an open hand
or at the tip of a sharp tongue
it covers up the salty taste of tears
you call me “sweetheart” afterward
I can’t think of anything to say during dinner
that won’t sound like a lie
later, in bed, you lace your fingers in mine
I hold my breath like a condemned prisoner
my hair is turning gray on this diet of ashes
my tongue lies heavy in my mouth
I’m betraying the fading light beneath my skin

/ / /

It’s been a while since I finished a poem. I wrote this one at the Museum of Modern Art in New York today after seeing the “Sweet Violence” exhibit for the second time. Please go see it if you can.

POEM: Rivera’s The Uprising

Posted 12 November, 2011 in My poems, Poetry, Politics & Activism

Listen to this poem using the player above.

My sister and I went to the Museum of Modern Art to see the new exhibition of murals by Diego Rivera. I wrote this poem based on one of them.

Rivera’s The Uprising

it’s her hand, not his
that stops the soldier’s blade
while with the other
she cradles her newborn child
who cries from the noise

the dead and wounded
cover the ground like fallen leaves
as a phalanx of armed men
in earthen brown
swing wooden rifle stocks
at the faces of the newly free

men in peasant caps and overalls
no weapons but their fists and hearts
stand shoulder to shoulder
under a sky red with waving flags
on ground red with spilled blood

she holds her crying child
with the hope of a new mother
and the desperation of the wall
against her back
she will not give in
she will not give in

Straight people support LGBTQ rights, too

Posted 5 July, 2011 in Politics & Activism

From Stonewall Celebrates As Marriage Equality Passes – June 24, 2011

I support equal rights for all members of the LGBTQ community. And, as it turns out, I’m straight.

I say that because I’ve already been tagged as gay by many acquaintances and strangers who seem to think that only LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) people can support and advocate for LGBTQ issues. I’m certainly not worried about being mistaken for gay. In fact, emphasizing that I’m straight makes me a bit uncomfortable. But for the purposes of the point I’m about to make, it’s necessary.

Back in the early 90s, I had a good friend who came out as a lesbian. She was the first openly gay person I knew and, because she was (and still is) very important to me, I became very open about my support for LGBTQ issues. In addition to being vocal, I often wore a triangle necklace and had a bunch of LGBTQ stickers on my car … eventually leading to its windows being smashed in a Tucson parking lot on Christmas Eve in 1995.

Later on, I was a stay-at-home dad for a year and I took care of my son and also the daughter of a lesbian couple. I normally don’t think of them as a “lesbian couple,” but I’m identifying them that way for the purposes of this essay. In that same town, I befriended another Lesbian Couple (TM) both through our shared anti-war activism and a passion for cycling. All these folks are some of my favorite people in the world and I was thinking of all of them when I was dancing outside Stonewall on the night that the marriage equality bill passed here in New York State.

From Stonewall Celebrates As Marriage Equality Passes – June 24, 2011

Along with everyone else, I was live-tweeting from Stonewall during the big celebration, and several people on Twitter and Facebook congratulated me using language that made it clear they thought I was gay. As things quieted down a bit at Stonewall, I went to the Undead Jazz Festival wearing my “Legalize Gay” shirt. Several people again congratulated me in a way that made their perceptions clear. I didn’t correct anyone, nor did I use it as a moment to say, “I’m straight, but you’re right, it’s a great victory for everyone, straight or gay.”

The other night I was at Tanglewood in Lenox, Massachusetts, wearing an “I heart NY” shirt (above, with my cousin Lynne) which I had altered by drawing an equal sign in the heart. During the evening a woman who self-identified as a lesbian saw my shirt and we had a lovely chat about the passage of the law and what it means for the future. At the end, she gave me a high-five and said “Yay for us!” Again, I didn’t say anything about being straight.

There are two reasons why I don’t mention my sexual orientation in such situations. One reason is just the social awkwardness of sharing a moment like that with someone and then saying something that would seem to make the moment a bit less shared.

The other reason is that I don’t want to be seen as afraid or ashamed of being identified as gay. I often think that if I said “I’m straight” in those situations it would make it seem like I was trying to distance myself from the LGBTQ community. “Hey, I support the issues, but I’m a heterosexual!”

A friend recently pointed out that it was sad that some people assume that only LGBTQ people support LGBTQ issues. I agree. These issues have been central to my life for more than two decades, and I’m proud to be a vocal supporter. (And by the way, I’m no hero. Many activists have done far more than me to bring these issues to the public arena.) And while I’m a bit hesitant to say that LGBTQ rights are the civil rights struggle of our era — because I think there are other civil rights struggles that need fighting, too — I certainly think the fight for LGBTQ rights is one of our major civil rights battlegrounds. I want to be able to tell my kids that I stood up to be counted on this issue.

So yes, I’m straight and I’m a supporter of LGBTQ rights. And I hope you’re a supporter, too.

POEM: warm bodies

Posted 12 March, 2011 in My poems, Poetry, Politics & Activism

I recently visited the excellent Museum of Chinese in America in New York. This poem was partly inspired by that experience.

warm bodies

we are happy to have warm bodies
to throw at their guns
Chinese, black, dynasty, diaspora
anyone but our own sons

what happened to thirty paces
the crack of the pistol
as the mist rose off the dawn ground

when did we start loading the chambers
with soft flesh
gunpowder burning the skin
as we launch the children of the poor
at the children of the poor

praise the Lord and pass the ammunition
and if he gives you any trouble
shoot the fucker

it’s a hard equation
but that’s how we do math these days
with mercenary sensibility and a lead-pipe cruelty
not even John Cusack can make charming

the baby in the bassinet
has dynamite in her mouth
the fuse trails off under a door marked
RESTRICTED

in the morning you find a card in your mailbox:
“Manzanar — Wish You Were Here!”
the accompanying cartoon
helps our boys track you down
by the way you walk and the slant of your eyes

POEM: January 25, 2011

Posted 30 January, 2011 in My poems, Poetry, Politics & Activism

Listen to this poem using the player above.

This poem begins with a quote from Egyptian TV host Ahmad El Esseily. (via this article)

January 25, 2011

“The regime
has been
            convincing us
very well
that we cannot do it
            but Tunisians
gave us an idea
and it took us
only three days
            and we did it.”

and like that, the curtain
of sand came down

in Tahrir Square the people
tens of thousands of the people
chanted

Muslims!
            Christians!
We are all
            Egyptians!

and like that, another iron-
hearted scarecrow fled
to his hotel room

where only
his most trusted
            retainers remained
to tell him he was
right, he would return

for this was no longer his land
these people no longer his people

in this land of slaves and slave owners
there is a history of breaking shackles

sometimes      one      link      at      a      time

sometimes allatonce

POEM: I Cannot Threaten Death (a poem for MLK)

Posted 17 January, 2011 in My poems, Poetry, Politics & Activism

Listen to this poem using the player above.

On April 4, 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave one of his most important speeches, “Beyond Vietnam.” (You can read or listen to the speech here.)

In 2010, I used the text of that speech to make an erasure poem called “I Cannot Threaten Death.” In other words, I printed out the complete text and then erased most of the words. I kept the remaining words in their original order.

You can hear me read this poem by clicking on the player above. The recording is from my January 5, 2011, reading at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY. You can also download a PDF of the poem.

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