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Till We Had Faces
for Barbara Gittings
Gay people didn't have a face until Barbara
started demonstrating in 1965.
—Mark Segal, publisher, Philadelphia Gay News
Before your time:
Blinkered eyes
hollow chest
straw legs
tin arms
thirsty lips
untuned ears
desire
squirming
in darkened corners.
Because of you:
Sashaying
Betty Boop
eyes
ears tuned
to sassy sounds
of the camp meeting.
A Rude Awakening
Getting out of the shower,
face-to-face
with the day-glo curtain,
the goddess was shocked,
shocked to discover
she was not only naked
but hungry. In Celluloid
Land, I never want breakfast,
she thought, in the morning
I'm buried in black and white
stardust. When you die,
the diva knew, you go
dressed to the nines
to The World of Color.
A red terrycloth bathrobe
hugged her newly pink skin.
Am I really dead? she wondered.
I haven't seen the daily rushes.
Where are my sunglasses?
The stars are too bright,
too eager, for their close-ups.
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