Since I had so much fun reworking Robert Frost classics into ditties about marshmallow peeps, I decided to try rewriting a slightly more serious poem. T.S. Eliot’s “Preludes” has always struck me as a pretty good metaphor for the gay bar scene in that its a verses are of depressing urban routine with a core of optimism and beauty at the center. So, with the acknowledgment that I am no T.S. Eliot (or even TS from Mall Rats) here’s what I came up with:

I want a man I can take a shower with
Turn around and take a bath with
Because that shower made us dirty

Last week, while working on my post about Russia, I stumbled across a story about a statue of Walt Whitman being unveiled in Moscow, and the contradiction that was inherent in having a notoriously anti-gay mayor praising the work of such a well-known, American queer artist. That, combined with last week’s Friday Staff Survey about our favorite books, got me thinking about some of my favorite queer poets and poems from around the world.

Selena has done a great job spotlighting some amazing LGBT Poets, and I thought I might throw in my two cents with some writers from around the world that I enjoy. Yes, this is somewhat self-indulgent, but hopefully my fellow Global Gaze readers will spotlight the international artists you enjoy in comment form and throw a little support and attention to these queer artists, many of whom are writing in areas of the world that are hostile towards sexual minorities.

And so let me say, without pause today

That this is the way I have been since the day

I came into this world, like a clog in a sink

The last of a body that can’t even think

About children anymore, my mother’s womb

This tired, removed, down-trodden wound

The first slaps of air hit me dead in the face

I feel like I knew then I was headed this way

Gay & Lesbian Outreach and Engagement (GLOE) at the Washington DCJCC presents a reading and talk by transgendered poet and Professor Joy Ladin this Sunday.

For this week’s survey, I thought it might be fun to shake things up a bit, and do something to get everyone’s creative juices flowing. So on Monday, I asked everyone to don their poet hats and come up with a haiku concerning the current state of their love lives. (If you’re unfamiliar with haiku, here’s a primer.) Everybody’s been working hard all week and here’s what we’ve come up with. If you’d like to get in on the action, feel free to provide your own haiku in the comments!

I love you like a Jew loves pork.

Sparkle, a queer-friendly reading series hosted by Regie Cabico, is taking over this week’s Wednesday open mic night at Busboys and Poets.

Know amazedly how
often one takes his madness
into his own hands
and keeps it.

mothertongue returns this month with a free event featuring slam sensation Jenny Lare.