My porno gay heart
Shoplifted pulp fiction—lost
Low-rent bordello
Red—black—velvet wallpaper
Erotic to the core—crushed
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Montreal
A Party Postponed
Bright rainbow necklace
Strung–Berri to Papineau
A party postponed
May pissed on the parade–still
The rain dances in the streets
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Depth Charge: Once again Ste Catherine Street has been closed to traffic and the length of the Gay Village has been strung with a rainbow of plastic balls.
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How to Pirouette on a Little Piece of Queer
Harry Giles asked the panel
How they deal
With being the token piece of queer
When allowed to speak
By the mainstream
When the well-meaning feign
Love
While they do everything
They can still
To kill
You
Own it
Said Anne-Marie MacDonald
Use your toe-hold to maintain
Poise
To get the lay of the land
Listen carefully to see
If you are among friends
Enemies or chameleons
Use good manners
These at least will keep us
For stabbing each other in the eye
With our forks
Nick Comilla said this was a challenge
He had yet to face
As he operates
Within chosen confines
Of the sub-culture
Growing
Strong
Sometimes said Kai Cheng Thom
You should stab them
In the fucking eye
With your fork
Toss a grenade onto
The unceded territory
Blow it the fuck up
And pirouette away
AGG20170429
Depth Charge: This piece of re-poet-age, and the license that implies, sprang from The Violet Hour panel held this morning as part of Blue Metropolis.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1909921899241831/
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The Prophylaxis of Humour
“I am not a bitchy old fag, I am a sad old faggot,” said Sky Gilbert at The Violet Hour reading at Stock Bar in Montreal’s gay village last night.
He had just read two hilarious excerpts from his new book Sad Old Faggot, one about his penis and the other about his asshole, and was introducing a third excerpt about his complicated relationship with other older gay men.
Unlike the other man he was describing, he did not want young gay men to respect him, or acknowledge his history, so he was free from bitterness. He would be happy enough if they would just fuck him.
Listening to, and laughing with, him, I could relate on one level—the strange new territory of growing old—but not on another, because I have found my late forties and fifties to be incredibly rewarding on a personal and sexual level.
Earlier in the evening, Kai Cheng Thom read several blisteringly funny poems based on her experience as an Asian trans woman. I adore humour fueled by rage and she delivered her fury wrapped in cutting laughter. Her new book is a place call No Homeland, as it was sold out by the time I got to the book table, its unknown pleasures and pains still await me.
Very different in form, style and content the readings of both Sky Gilbert and Kai Cheng Thom shared a use of humour that was both defensive and offensive, a ward against future pain and a balm on personal history, post- and pre- exposure prophylaxis, if you will.
Rachel Amey, Peter Dubé, Harry Giles and Catherine Hernandez all read as well, making for a truly remarkable evening.
The Violet Hour is becoming a true treasure.
For the details on the next event on May 23 , check out: https://www.facebook.com/events/1560113084081981/
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Haiku for jr
Late March turns cold—white—
Snow—covers but can’t conceal
Fresh magnolia buds
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for jr
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Now I know fish sing
Now I know fish sing
Like the birds at dusk and dawn
Strangeness fills my heart
With a gladness—submarine
Their choral celebrations
Mark each arriving
Each passing day—til the day
This is forgotten—
Why should our memories last
Forever—when love will not
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Depth Charge: Scientists have been listening in on the songs sung by fish in coral reefs.
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Vigil
No ten thousand people
Not even ten thousand times ten thousand
Can return to life the six Muslim men
Killed by a single malicious man
But we stand in the cold listening
With silent incomprehension
To a prayer offered to the dead
Behind us two men chant
In rhythms with the speaker
And to our left two small children
Laugh as they play in the snow
Oblivious to the growing crowd
Because they have not been taught
To hate
Yet
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(for Azzeddine Soufiane, Khaled Belkacemi, Aboubaker Thabti, Mamadou Tanou, Ibrahima Barry and Abdelkrim Hassane)
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5 AM Fresh Fallen Snow
Thump! Rattle! Rumble!
Grating! Humming! Beep! Beep! Beep!
Scrape. Plough. Grind. Repeat.
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The Joke of Hope
Frigid silhouettes
Against the grey morning sky
Show the overreach
Hope from last summer’s rushed growth
Mocked by this winter’s cold winds
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Which I—for a while—was one
Was I perhaps wrong
Not to have dreams hopes and plans
For you who seemed full
Of bright desires of your own
Which I—for a while—was one
AGG20170108
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