pride never gets old.

you know, there are people who talk about the day when we as america will be post-gay and we won't need pride parades. we won't need a special day or month to celebrate and interrogate queer  culture and its role in our society. and to that i say, are we gonna do away with all parades? are we gonna be post-independence day? post-veteran's day? post-puerto rican day parade? pride is so much more than speaking out against that which is against us. it is joy. it is memory. it is tribute and love and experiment. it is a moment to stop and think about how far we've come, and how much better things can still become. i don't know about anyone else, but i don't plan to ever stop wanting pride.

where taylor avenue and griggs street meet

she came of age in the eighties, I can tell:

big hair, stretch pants that fuschia shade of ugly,

dirty Keds and slouch socks.

She sucks on that cigarette like it’s cumming in her mouth,

she slouches on that corner, idle, 

and she must live just a few houses away on that shabby block

with a coupla kids who drive her up a wall

cause she raised them spoiled rotten,

even though she couldn’t afford it.

And her husband is having an affair with that bank teller,

the one who always wears red lipstick even with a pink blouse;

and there is dirty laundry to be done, and dinner heated up,

and yet here is this Woman.

here

she

is

in her five minutes of glory:

just her, her cigarette,

and the sun setting way over there

with only a coupla telephone poles to puncture her view.

kites are fun

sdv shenanigans

as 

i

 type this, my hands are spotted with robin's egg blue paint, the result of spending the afternoon painting my living room wall. this was a spontaneous decision. i used paint that i had bought to make a frame.  

in the last week, i've made 4 minibooks, like 12 layouts, and a multitude of mini-art bits for my house. i am on this creative jag that is insane and fun and rolling along like som e kind of drug trip.  can't get the damn scanner to work, though, so  i can't post most of the layouts yet. but here is a little bit of the fun i've been having:

holiday chez moi

sometimes music really IS salvation.

the world don't owe me nothing

even though i want it to

the world don't owe me happy

the world don't owe me a love like you

the world don't owe me nothing

even though i'm on my knees

not the things i took for granted

not the things i thought i'd got for free

but i will lay all my troubles on the ground

in front of you, and play

let me play just one more song

that's my rescue

the world don't owe me flowers 

even though i planted seeds

the world don't owe me sunshine

the world don't owe me what i need

the world don't owe me a reason

for when the night's too long

the world don't owe me nothing

i don't understand all that's gone wrong

but i will lay dow my troubles on the ground

in front of you

and play

let me play just one more song

that's my rescue

the world don't owe me a highway

don't owe me a tree

the world don't owe me an easy way out

here it comes again,

another kind of pain

and i will lay all my troubles on the ground 

in front of you

and play

let me play just one more song

that's my rescue

(thanks, catie curtis. 

this is one of those need-it-like-air songs for my soul. 

and a timely, timely find.)