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Poem about how much i want you
Date Published:
November 01, 2007 i can’t lie to you
atlanta done laid me down
heat painted pavement to stay
taught me
that to be alien
was to be here
so to be queer
must be hip hop
(beat beaten but beaming still)
atlanta taught me
music could war
and if drop-kicked hope
landed and landed
in Bankhead
it would bounce
atlanta remains
a city brazen enough
to kill me and keep moving
but I would STILL tattoo OutKast lyrics on my grave
what I am trying to tell you is
love is a sin
that at best trains me up
in the everyday art of not being a slave
but this is how much i want you
i would cringe into asphalt
fuck the compromise of sidewalks
if it meant you could stand in the middle and sing
i would shelter
the highest pedestrian deathrate
if it made the craziest among us
more likely immortal
would drawl down secrets
melt your sneakers
and name every pathway after what I can’t afford
if it meant you would
never forget me
i would be the place
spread open
divided
for the queer and fly to multiply
because this is how much i want you
and you’re here
welcome home.
This poem was written the day of the event and presented as a welcome by Alexis Pauline Gumbs.