Thursday, September 30, 2010

Poem for Thursday and Renfaire Nostalgia

At Pegasus
By Terrance Hayes


They are like those crazy women
   who tore Orpheus
      when he refused to sing,

these men grinding
   in the strobe & black lights
      of Pegasus. All shadow & sound.

"I'm just here for the music,"
   I tell the man who asks me
      to the floor. But I have held

a boy on my back before.
   Curtis & I used to leap
      barefoot into the creek; dance

among maggots & piss,
   beer bottles & tadpoles
      slippery as sperm;

we used to pull off our shirts,
   & slap music into our skin.
      He wouldn't know me now

at the edge of these lovers' gyre,
   glitter & steam, fire,
      bodies blurred sexless

by the music's spinning light.
   A young man slips his thumb
      into the mouth of an old one,

& I am not that far away.
   The whole scene raw & delicate
      as Curtis's foot gashed

on a sunken bottle shard.
   They press hip to hip,
      each breathless as a boy

carrying a friend on his back.
   The foot swelling green
      as the sewage in that creek.

We never went back.
   But I remember his weight
      better than I remember

my first kiss.
   These men know something
      I used to know.

How could I not find them
   beautiful, the way they dive & spill
      into each other,

the way the dance floor
   takes them,
      wet & holy in its mouth.

--------

From Hayes' Muscular Music.

We were supposed to get rain late in the day on Wednesday, but we actually had drizzle from early in the morning, so it was gray and dark outside and I feel like I never properly woke up -- Thursday may be even worse so far as that is concerned, since what's left of Tropical Storm Nicole is supposed to dump several inches of rain on us. That wasn't even the top story on our local news, though -- it was a tour bus that fell off a Beltway ramp onto an I-270 ramp, making traffic a nightmare and causing Paul to spend more than half an hour trying to drive less than a quarter mile on his route home (which was nothing compared to what people crossing Virginia into Maryland had to deal with). The driver died and the passengers, many of whom were children, were taken to a hospital not far from where I live, so driving on any local roads this evening proved ill-advised since everyone was looking for an alternate route home.

Fortunately I had been out earlier, though unfortunately I didn't pick up milk in any of the three food stores I passed while going to see my very oldest friend...that is, my friend of longest acquaintance, the one who has the Super Bowl party every year. We met in front of her gym, which is surrounded by restaurants, and ended up walking across Rockville Pike in the rain to Sam's Cafe and Market, where I had wonderful Persian soup with black beans, lentils, yogurt, noodles, and various veggies -- I can't remember all the ingredients and I wish I could because it was delicious! We both came home to retrieve our children and I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to fix a link on a bracelet before I decided that I need better tweezers. I also got a long-awaited eBay bargain in the mail, in a paper envelope absolutely shredded by the post office -- it arrived in one of those "We're Sorry" plastic bags -- with a huge stain on the skirt inside. I thought about leaving the seller negative feedback, considering she charged me $6 for shipping on something that weighed very little yet she was cheap or lazy to wrap the skirt in a plastic bag before throwing it into the paper envelope, but life's too short.

Watched the second episode of Undercovers, enjoyed it a lot...I still think everyone is ridiculously attractive and I don't for one second believe super-buff Steven has spent one minute as a professional cook, and a lot of the plot simply strained credulity (wow, international terrorists have trouble shooting to kill), but I like the chemistry among all the leads and I like the premise in general. I hear the show may be in trouble, though, despite coming in second in its time slot last week, because it skewed toward older viewers than the network was expecting, women in particular. I could have saved them a lot of money guessing demographics and explained that of course it would be older women who'd dig a show about a married spy couple, sheesh -- were they expecting J.J. Abrams' Star Trek numbers among young male viewers? Now I'm a bit terrified someone is going to have sex with a green-skinned girl in an upcoming episode.


The maypole at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, being enjoyed despite the rain.


Last weekend was Pirate Weekend. Even this poor deer was dressed for the occasion...


...though this was my favorite hat at the Faire.


Here are some of Art of Fire's glass dragons...


...and authentic Renaissance espresso. I had no idea the peasant drink selection was so extensive.


We admired the giant vulture on top of this shop and the giant crab in front of it.


Plus we got to try on an invisibility cloak!


And watch knights beating each other around the head at the joust.

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