Tooth (ef)

Your universal truths
are long in the tooth
well-worn, not fit for chewing
on tougher meats
it's satisfaction worn down
to softer dough & doughnuts
and me
just a tip of the iceberg to show
fathom my form
classic, pure chilly magic
flowing cool over the desert
casting soft & ankle deep
a fog
for effect - you could file
your dental work back into shape
or spend thousands on a
replacement pair
but you'll never outswim this shark
with rows & rows of waiting teeth
to spare.

Morocco... (ef)

Is Morocco spicy?
I'd say it is.
And could it ever have cowboys?
On camels, maybe yes -
with names like whispers
or shifting sands
again - it's quite possible
dunes, beaches, grasses, wind, fog, mule deer;
this place has room.

WalkDanceTalkSign --- Or Sit Down & Shut Up

I was recently introduced to this post in a blog:

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2005/07/watching-defectives.html

Youse talkin' to me?
So up came the topic of Pride's possible irrelevance, and I can say - I DID read the rant (loosely termed 'article') that the link led me to.

And I read it again - and still - this is a writer who wants an excuse to celebrate 'being gay'. And wants Pride to be the thing he enjoys and the parade that no one poops on.

Well, I step up to fling my poo.

"Why don't the papers ever show the NORMAL gay people? Where are the bankers and lawyers? Why must all the coverage be drag queens and leather freaks in ass-less chaps?"
I don't enjoy "Pride" - either as a political statement (which I don't believe it is any longer) or a 'celebration' (which I don't find very amusing or festive). So I don't attend - and I leave it to those that are seeking a chance to just let loose and express their individuality.

Knock yourselves out. No really.

I don't care if Pride survives or dries up completely in its current state. To me, it is irrelevant. But to me so is Styx or Huey Lewis & The News when they are on tour. I'm not buying tickets to sit through those performances - even if I hum along with their tunes.

Lisa Simpson: "You're here every year. We ARE used to it."

When there is a gay event (or any sort of event) that resonates with me, I will be there to show my support and my individuality in spades. Just as I have done, every day of my life, with friends, family, and sometimes complete strangers. No need for special occasions, thousands of bodies massed around me chanting, or autos wrapped in chicken wire and tucked with tissue paper.

Jew/Holocaust/Worn Out Cliches aside - this side says - "ooh icky drag queens and leather bears" - that side says "ooh boring yuppy gays with normal yuppy lives" - and each side hisses and spits at the other.

"They wish we were invisible. We're not. Let's dance.

Well, then dance - every day, in front of everyone you know. And ask them to dance with you. And dance with the people you want to dance with - whether they are your people/your tribe or not.

The lovely Kethrai introduced me to a quote a long time ago: "If you can walk you can dance. If you can talk you can sing." - Zimbabwe Proverb

Mouse or Elephant?, 2

A bit of a collection of recent rants - specifically about being gay, in the military (or like field), where gay isn't wanted:

Why did I go into the military?

[x] Parents divorced
[x] Living situation sucked
[x] No money for college
[x] Grew up fast and learned a lot

All of the above here.

I would never undo my time in the military. I learned too much, grew a lot as a person - and met some of my truest friends. BUT, I can't imagine having enlisted for another 4 yrs.

Making sure you have a strong ring around you is important.

I guess - you just have to find a group of folks that can be balanced and impartial - yet, at the same time give a gentle nudge, slap or kick as needed when you're feeling low.

My friends and family have always provided - in abundance.

As for the 'why did you enlist?', 'why do you stay?', 'have you lost all sense of reason and dignity?' type questions and comments: PIFFLE.

These are the questions you are strapped with already. Folks either have to be open to the fact you are there - or - well, zip it.

Whether the military is the most choice place to be as a homosexual or not - but for bending the rules, but for breaking into areas where folks would prefer you just don't go - it just holds everybody down.

There are so many things that someone has to do - and someone might be gay or straight - and if someone gay goes into the military, and succeeds daily despite all of the weight and obstacles that can trip that person up - don't knock that person down.

Salute them. Support them.

Some folks seem to find it incredibly easy to say - 'it's all or nothing' - come out or keep quiet.

A quote from one such folk:"What I am saying is that you are not powerless over your situation.

You have choices, and as always there is a consequence to every choice. Its life."

And as such - a person has the right to ask for help and support from other folks.

If the idea is that no one should ever approach something that's unattainable - or that a person should only do the things that allow them to be who they want to be, when they want to be, without any 'filtering' or without any weight for the consequences of their actions, what a friggin' scary place the world would be. Or may be becoming.

I would ask these free-wheeling folks, what is your life experience - your age, what you do for a living, where you live, etc. Those things have an impact on how you relate to the world. And may make it very black & white for you with regards to your sexuality.

One of the things I sometimes find perplexing about change in society is how slowly and then quickly and then slowly it occurs. And how sometimes it occurs without people realizing it. And sometimes it takes very sudden and unexpected slides backwards.

SO - that so many folks today can say they are out - to spoon in theatres, to check out other guys in malls, etc. - how many gay people in the previous generation(s) had to filter, had to slip into roles that required a little alteration of personality - and then had to come out to the right people at the right time?

And how about those who remain firmly in place on 'fronts' where they were unexpected, undesired, or not permitted - silent and waiting: agents of change.

You Will Be... You.

On the supposed "assimilation of gay culture into mainstream society..."

Borg? Where?

The idea that cultures move closer and further apart - is a constant theme in America. I see things that amuse and frustrate me to no end in how people strive to be different and cry for acceptance.

- Straight guys that dress as gay or gayer than any gay guy - adopting fashions, hairstyles, shoes that many gay men would shy away from. Of course, I sometimes suspect their girlfriends had a hand in this.- A black subculture in our country that has moved further from mainstream - creating its own vocabulary, music and idealogy. Very successfully. Only to find itself adopted and emulated.- Immigrant cultures that fear the loss of their own languages and customs as their children strive to melt into the culture which surrounds them. And watching as the culture which surrounds them adopts and emulates food, music, styles, etc. from the incomers.

Sexuality is integral to my being. But it is the least of the things that affect those I work with and socialize with. And it is the final thing I purposefully reveal - it is mine to do with what I will. It is not who I am. And should not be the thing by which I am weighed and measured.

I believe this is why - in polite society and company - it is customary to shake hands at meeting and not some other appendage.

Gay culture is a part of the world - threading itself neatly in and out of favor and in and out of history. Within the gay subset - individuals have found and will continue to find ways to reinvent and redefine themselves - over and over again.

Folks in the world will continue to see a thing they like - and in an effort to set themselves apart - they will adopt and emulate the things they see that they find pleasing or unique. Some social butterfly effect, a pebble dropped in a pond...

Defenders of ...

Whether I would be the marrying type or not - everytime I see this bumper sticker:



I want to just slam my car into the back of the car the sticker is on, shoving the bumper right up the arse of the hunch-backed, coke-bottle wearing, zit-squeezing "Defender of Marriage" with stray facial hair nervously gripping the steering wheel.

*With apologies to any non-Defenders who may be hunch-backed, coke-bottle wearing, or zit-squeezing. As for facial hair: razor, tweezer, wax - you decide.

Freudian Slap...

A chum of mine sends incessant Spam. Rarely an actual e-mail - but two or three a day come jokes, photos, comic strips, etc. He also has no notion to BCC the 100 or so names on each e-mail.

So this morning - I see a reply from one of the recipients. And it's that reply that I often dream of sending myself - but... can't bring myself to:

"B,

Although I like your twisted humor, please remove my email address from the humor mailing list.

J"

Of course, this Spam was obviously going to J's work address. And J hit reply to everyone.

But - even better - a second reply comes from J,

"J would like to recall the message ... "

So, there was that moment of remorse.

Alas, that recall feature doesn't work as smartly as some would like.

The Pope. Pope. Pope.

So, that Pope died.

People have been talking at work - and someone asked how I was holding up with everything that's just happened and I was like -

"What are you talking about? Who?"

I was only relieved for that old man that he was released from the grip from all the folks so desperate to keep him functioning - propping him up in front of windows sock-puppet style for the last several months.

Which reminds me of Meryn Cadell's POPE song from an album several years back:

"Well I love that man, Pope John Paul the 3rd
I love him probably more than he deserves.
Okay, so he persecutes homosexuals, does not believe in abortion,
visits with Kurt Waldheim and tells us not to take the pill ...
There’s still a certain je ne sais quoi –
Some peace, some love, some goodwill.
Yeah, the pope, pope, pope, pope, pope.
We all here to see the pope, pope, pope, pope, pope..."

Meantime, back at the ranch, I keep wondering:

"How many Catholics does it take to install a Pope?"

Marriage

Gay and Otherwise: Marriage

Personal choice as it affects that individual.

I've been in long-term relationships. I've been in short-term ... engagements.

If you meet somebody and you *click* - and you are together with an understanding b/t the two of you (or three or four) - that's a [spiritual] union. And if that lasts 2 weeks or 80 years, it's your life and choice.

The LEGAL allowances and protections inherent to the Married. I think that is the aim. And these are things that are so quickly denied or stripped away.

The UNION decision is b/t the parties involved - and/or their friends & family they invite to witness their connection. And who support them. And if you are involved in a faith - and your faith embraces your Union - fantastic.

Of course... I have never been inclined towards the fanciness of marriage. And sometimes, witnessing folks that are desperate to achieve marriage - and then are made so unhappy by it - I wonder:

"Why would you wish this on anyone?"

AND when I see a couple skipping through the aisles of Target, zapping merchandise into their registry with the merchandise stun gun - I am emotionally overwhelmed with

An urge to slap their heads together Stooges-style.

But that's me - and I am Gay. But not as Gay as some others in my Tribe.