Jan Beatty.
Oct. 18th, 2004 12:40 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
natelyswhore.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
greatpoetryWhen Foucault Entered the Body
My friend Aaron said he’d like to give Vin Diesel
a tongue bath, and I guess that’s clear enough,
but I want more. I want to wear men’s shoes
because they’re stylish, sturdy – and just because
I think Patricia Arquette’s beautiful (and she is)
doesn’t mean I want to be her. Just give me a wife
beater and an AK-47 and I’ll be Nic Cage
bustin’ up Con Air, fuckin’ A. You can call me
shallow, but in grad school the main theoryhead
called me late at night for advice about his boyfriend
& that’s when Foucault entered the body –
give me a break with his “I’m not speaking” routine.
Nobody wants to inhabit his/her own body
all the time – Take my friend Aaron, for example.
When he’s irritated, he says, “panties, panties, panties”
and that helps calm him down. And just because
my husband had to explain Popa Chubby (the blues singer)
to me – doesn’t mean I’m naïve – just on vacation.
Why stay in the body and miss the ricochet back in,
the sweet body return with its jolt of red sugar
and don’t you just love the inside out of it?
The veins and pink slippery animal openings of it?
Panties, panties, panties.
When I dress in drag, honey, I’ll be in a pink-flower-
prom-gown with a motherfuckin’ tiara –
because sharkskin suit would be too much
like home.
Jan Beatty
Indiana Review, 25.1
As far as I’m concerned, being any gender at all is a drag.
-- Patti Smith
My friend Aaron said he’d like to give Vin Diesel
a tongue bath, and I guess that’s clear enough,
but I want more. I want to wear men’s shoes
because they’re stylish, sturdy – and just because
I think Patricia Arquette’s beautiful (and she is)
doesn’t mean I want to be her. Just give me a wife
beater and an AK-47 and I’ll be Nic Cage
bustin’ up Con Air, fuckin’ A. You can call me
shallow, but in grad school the main theoryhead
called me late at night for advice about his boyfriend
& that’s when Foucault entered the body –
give me a break with his “I’m not speaking” routine.
Nobody wants to inhabit his/her own body
all the time – Take my friend Aaron, for example.
When he’s irritated, he says, “panties, panties, panties”
and that helps calm him down. And just because
my husband had to explain Popa Chubby (the blues singer)
to me – doesn’t mean I’m naïve – just on vacation.
Why stay in the body and miss the ricochet back in,
the sweet body return with its jolt of red sugar
and don’t you just love the inside out of it?
The veins and pink slippery animal openings of it?
Panties, panties, panties.
When I dress in drag, honey, I’ll be in a pink-flower-
prom-gown with a motherfuckin’ tiara –
because sharkskin suit would be too much
like home.
Jan Beatty
Indiana Review, 25.1
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-10-18 07:05 pm (UTC)like how it goes from questioning/passive to:
Panties, panties, panties.
When I dress in drag, honey, I’ll be in a pink-flower-
prom-gown with a motherfuckin’ tiara –
good things. thanks.
no subject
Date: 2004-10-18 07:16 pm (UTC)That poem rocks hard.
i've never heard of this person (lady?)
but i will be sure to look out from now on.
Thanks!
no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 01:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 01:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 02:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 03:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-10-19 09:47 pm (UTC)I Read it outloud, and it was... quite marvelous really....hanks!