For the past 5 years, I've written a poem for Pride. Some poems slip right out of my spirit, but not this year. It's been harder to find words lately. My spirit feels heavier. Knowing this, I began writing in February.
It was inspired by Kate Bornstein's "An Open Letter to Queer Artists," in which the Trans icon urges artists to keep creating, and reminds us of the cyclical nature of the LGBTO movement.
This year's piece is titled "Blades."
How are we back here again? we ask in a stupor, watching our rights in reverse. I thought we were done with this shit. Did we forget the arithmetic of our progress? It’s always been ten steps forward, six steps back. For every bar and bathhouse they burnt down, we built four in their place. For every sodomy and solicitation sentence, we wrote four poems. Fossils, ever buried in a wider circumference. The Movement’s constant circle: sky-high victory, fiery defeat, sky-high verdict, fiery defeat, our names in sky writing, our names in embers. We were never promised linear progress, beloved. Nothing about us has ever been straight. You are not a line, You’re a propeller.
Blades is featured in my new book of poems SENTENCES. Pre-Order now.
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