Queer Poetics: Sudsy C.A. Conrad & “A Beautiful Marsupial Afternoon”
SAN FRANCISCO, Ca.- – For those poetic of you, here’s two gender-riffic authors reading from their work at a Laundromat (Mission Laundromat) in San Francisco last month. Two of Wild Gender’s favorite queer poets of all time: C.A. Conrad and Eileen Myles get sudsy with their audience.
(C.A. Conrad)
(Eileen Myles)
Also, watch the book trailer for C.A. Conrad’s “A Beautiful Marsupial Afternoon” due out this month by Wave Books. Order it here. And watch the animated short and read an excerpt from C.A.’s work below.
Aphrodisios
for Erica Kaufman
Wash a penny, rinse it, slip it under your tongue, and walk out the door. Copper is the metal of Aphrodite, never ever forget this, never, don’t forget it, ever. Drink a little orange juice outside and let some of the juice rest in your mouth with the penny. Oranges are the fruit of Aphrodite, and she is the goddess of Love, but not fidelity. Go somewhere, go, get going with your penny and juice. Where do you want to sit? Find it, and sit there.
What is the best Love you’ve ever had in this world? Be quiet while thinking about that Love. If someone comes along and starts talking, quietly shoo them away, you’re busy, you’re a poet with a penny in your mouth, idle chitchat is not your friend. Be quiet so quiet, let the very sounds of that Love be heard in your bones. After a little while take the penny out of your mouth and place it on the top of your head. Balance it there and sit still a little while, for you are now moving your own forces quietly about in your stillness. Now get your pen and paper and write about POVERTY, write line after line about starvation and deprivation from the voice of one who has been Loved in this world.
CUTTING AND
ASSEMBLAGE
–for Tommy
of the cosmic proletariat?”
–Debrah Morkun
against
a ton of
ears a five
pound
song
broke
them all
it is
rare to
remember
where we
are from
listen
I am on
earth
not sure
how long
our documents
under rubble
an hour
prying this
fucking
drawer
open to
find handles
and screws
instead of
your poem
we came into
the quiet like
we had to
survive their
ridicule
to die
in their
sleeping
conscience
bleeding
as when
bathed in
the hunt
you fund
me with
kisses
face a
spoken
promise
the written
has been
burned
only a
memory
can perish
every
cell
resold to
sharpest
set of
incisors
“viruses are
hungry too”
you said
our documents
shot into
outer space
what is
more fortunate
than the
will to
proceed
bliss
cascading
in the
candy you
make as
a sword
gathers
me into
solitude
cradling
a five
pound
song for
you in
my ear
I hate many
but won’t halt
loving you
set this
down to know
a little night
time
heads, macaroni
tails, execution
edit our bigger
part of credit
the cop
Frank O’Hara
not the poet
Frank O’Hara
told us
STOP
GETTING
NAKED
IN THE
BUSHES
TOGETHER
he’s gonna have
to arrest us he’s
gonna have to
arrest us he’s
trying so
hard to
be nice
remembering
half finished
poems falling
off table
falling off
truck falling
off cliff
what’s that
fucking cliff
trying to
do to us
this is how
if feels
traffic lights
in dark
in rain
no cars even
pink hat in
sidewalk drain
it’s the
comfort
you get
some
times
I molded
my body
around
you to
hold your
winter to a
sanctum of
flame
we agree
to ignore
the
deafening
knock
lingering at
doll house
doors
large
sentimental
songs at
doll house
doors
dolls yelling
FUCK OFF
an anger
traces the
outline of
each it
enters
it is
and is
not a private
act to involve the
thawing choir
our bones
our muscles
get rising
to one
and
two
breaths
the common
lung this
world a
mouth into
a mouth
breathing
back
and
forth
so
then
so
then
mouth
sings to
mouth
so then
mouth
sings to
mouth
so then
all night
so then
a day
then a
day so
About the Author
Wild Gender is an online magazine and creative hub born out of gratitude for the gift of full expression. We are dedicated to creative practices that celebrate gender fluidity, identity and expression. Wild Gender prioritizes visual art, creative writing, and journalistic work by trans/gender-variant individuals who have never before been published in a public venue. Run entirely by volunteers,we are always in search of writers, thinkers, and creators hoping to participate in our growing community.
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