Sunday, June 30, 2013

Dying Young Ettore

Ettore (Ettore Garofolo) Pasolini’s “Mama Roma” (1962)

DYING YOUNG ETTORE 



“The lingering shots of Ettore, 
strapped to a prison bed 
in his underwear are seductive 
and haunting”—Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamma_Roma
________________

When Ettore dies in a prison hospital—
Pasolini recreates Mantegna's Lamentation 
over the Dead Christ. 

Ettore is lying on the wooden bed—
stripped down to a shirt and underpants
his body tied to the prison bed
____________

The light coming down from the—
ceiling makes Ettore's pale skin glow
his hairy armpits glisten with sweat

The camera shot shoots upward—
toward his body from Ettore's feet
similar to the Mantegna painting




Saturday, June 29, 2013

Young Ettore

Ettore (Ettore Garofolo) 
Pasolini’s “Mama Roma” (1962)

YOUNG ETTORE 


—for Larry King, 15-years old

“where a young
peasant of the Roman 
Campagna sleeps amid 
rags, his penis erect”
—Pier Paolo Pasolini, The
Ashes of Gramsci 
___________________

Funny how I keep thinking—
of that kid in Oxnard lately
because he was so much more
advanced than me I guess…

Drag, my dear, in junior high—
that’s a grand step forward for
gender expression as they 
called it in his obituary…
___________

A good way to die young—
high-heeled boots lipstick
eye-shadow and maybe a
swish & limp wrist or two?

Too gay for me back then—
when I was young, surely I
would’ve been tres dead
being so gay that way…
____________

That’s what I mean by—
being more advanced than
me because he was more at
the cutting-edge of queer

The vanguard of the gay—
doing his gayness the way
he wanted to after all it’s a
sophisticated LA suburb…
_____________

Larry King reminded me of—
Jake Gyllenhaal in his fem 
gay role as Jack Twist in
Brokeback Mountain…

Well, kinda, anyway—
not butchy and hunky
and troubled and moody
like Heath Ledger tho…
_____________

Nascent gayhood—
the kid expressing his
Bildungsroman direction
with style and panache…

Isn’t that what freedom is—
the chance to see your
life as conceptual art if
that’s your thing?
________

Oxnard was troubled tho—
young illegal aliens and 
boyz down at the beach 
and the bad economy…

Throw in the usual—
poshlust peer-group push
toward politically correct
performance art…
________________

It wasn’t as easy as—
clicking your magic red
Wizard of Oz high heels
back then, was it, my dears?

The New Depression—
the end of Weimar and
wars in Persia only made
matters more difficult…
__________

The whole push toward—
gay marriages is fine but
what about the young ones?

What did we do for the—
young gays back then
in the trenches, my dears? 




Friday, June 28, 2013

Out of the Gay Inferno

OUT OF THE GAY INFERNO 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gpWjl0bghMQ#at=94


“Either we are subhumans
or we are equal citizens”
—Andrew Sullivan on
Andrew Cooper
_______________


We’ve all been down there—
dark and deep, thick with
clouds of str8t inferno

Young Ettore imprisoned—
down in Pasolini’s hellish
“Mama Roma” (1962)
_____________

It doesn’t take a Dante—
to know the dread abyss
of the Divine Commedia

But now Judge Kennedy—
uses the word “dignity” nine
times in today’s decision




The Ashes of Pasolini

THE ASHES OF PASOLINI 



“But while I own history,
it owns me; it illumines me.
But what use is such a light?”
—Pier Paolo Pasolini, The
Ashes of Gramsci 
____________________

Life and literature—
Pasolini bound them
together so close that

He confused them—
canceling each other
out like Dante
_____________

Pasolini was reborn—
as a civil poet with 
his own Inferno

Something like us—
our new gay utopia 
a negative theology



Thursday, June 27, 2013

Diana Ross and the Supremes

STOP! IN THE NAME OF LOVE 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDPjYZxi0n8

Stop! In the name of love
Before you break my heart

Baby, baby
I'm aware of where you go
Each time you leave my door
I watch you walk down the street
Knowing your other love you'll meet
But this time before you run to her
Leaving me alone and hurt
(Think it over) After I've been good to you ?
(Think it over) After I've been sweet to you ?

Stop! In the name of love
Before you break my heart
Stop! In the name of love
Before you break my heart
Think it over
Think it over

I've known of your
Your secluded nights
I've even seen her 
Maybe once or twice
But is her sweet expression
Worth more than my love and affection ?
But this time before you leave my arms
And rush of to her charms
(Think it over) Haven't I been good to you ?
(Think it over) Haven't I been sweet to you ?

Stop! In the name of love
Before you break my heart
Stop! In the name of love
Before you break my heart
Think it over
Think it over

I've tried so hard, hard to be patient
Hoping you'd stop this infatuation
But each time you are together
I'm so afraid I'll be losing you forever

Stop! In the name of love
Before you break my heart
Stop! In the name of love
Before you break my heart
Stop! In the name of love
Before you break my heart

Baby, think it over
Think it over, baby
Ooh, think it over baby...


The Dressing Gown

THE DRESSING GOWN 



“Highsmith’s closest friend
presented me with a gift—
Pat’s old dressing gown”
—Andrew Wilson, Beautiful 
Shadow: A Life of Patricia 
Highsmith
______________

I tried the gown on—
it was like slipping under
the skin of Patricia Highsmith

It was dark blue wool—
with black, blue and
beige stripe cuffs
___________

Its lining was a rather—
fine twill with a soft
tasseled waist cord

Purchased at Harrods—
strands of grey hair still
nestled around the neck
_____________

A strange air of—
otherworldliness even
suggested her nearby

Taking my clothes off—
so I could feel the gown
next to my bare skin
____________

Easing my arms—
through the same soft
dark spaces and

Tying the waist-band—
feeling the nuances of
her gown around me
_________

I looked down at—
my hands and they
were Highsmith’s hands

I picked up a pen—
and I began writing
like she would have
____________

I listened to her—
most intimate thoughts
flowing through me

I felt Tom Ripley—
doing drag there in
that Berlin disco
_________

But it was that—
exquisite feeling of
Pat’s soft dressing gown

Against my own—
naked skin that really
turned me on






Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The Boy Who Followed Fiction

THE BOY WHO FOLLOWED FICTION 


CONTENTS
___________________

PATRICIA HIGHSMITH
TURPENTINE
MOMMY DEAREST
GOTHIC MODERNÉ 
_______________

MONEY 
WRITING
PULP FICTION
THE BOY WHO FOLLOWED FICTION
_______________

MURDER 101
DOMESTICATION OF CRIME
CALM IMMORALITY
OLGA BACLANOVA
____________________

SORDID OFFICE HOURS
DENNY HALL
DOING RIPLEY
CREW TEAM DRAG
________________

PATRICIA HIGHSMITH

“There was not one 
thing I liked about her. 
There was an unredeemable
ugliness to her.”—Otto Penzler, 
Highsmith’s US publisher
____________

My mother drank—
turpentine to abort me

No wonder, my dears—
I turned out to be
________

So disagreeable and—
mean-spirited as well

I was hard, harsh—
unloving & unlovable 
________

Such a Bitch Queen—
full of anger, hatred

Unfriendly, cold—
I was a nasty Kunt

TURPENTINE 

“She was a totally
horrible woman.”
—Otto Penzler, 
Highsmith’s US publisher
_____________

I was pretty good-looking—
when I was a young dyke

I got ugly later on in life—
simply full of ugliness
____________

Hatred for everybody and—
everything around me

It was always there down—
deep inside me I think
________

Have you ever tasted the—
taste of Turpentine, honey?

I did in my Bitch Mother’s—
wretched pregnant tummy

MOMMY DEAREST

“In November, Highsmith
typed out a tally of how
much it cost to keep her
mother in her Fort Worth
nursing home”—Andrew
Wilson, Beautiful Shadow
_____________________

A total of $15,000—
was needed each year

for Patricia Highsmith’s—
hateful, spiteful mother
_________

Mary Highsmith’s pension—
coughed up $7,486 a year

That left a shitty shortfall—
of $7,814 Patricia paid
_________

Patricia wasn’t very pleased—
her own ordinary expenses

For food and clothing weren’t—
as much as her Witch Mother 

GOTHIC MODERNÉ 

“Work is more 
fun than play.”
—Noel Coward
________________

Proust’s Questionnaire—
can be rather revealing

Thirty-seven loaded—
exquisite queer questions
_____________

My idea of happiness—
would be quite simple

To be Tom Ripley—
one novel after another
__________

Who needs Miss Munch—
when one has a Derwatt

There’s nothing like a—
a fake to queer Picasso

MONEY 

“I would have thought 
she was conserving 
rather than mean.”
—Jack Bond
______________

I figured that my money—
had been hard won

Writing Pulp Fiction—
doesn’t pay that much
__________

Suspense/Murder Mysteries—
there’re a dime a dozen

Plus being a lesbian author—
a Sappho feminist writer
___________

Has always got a lot of—
fucking flak from the Fascists

Just look at Amy Lowell—
enduring that bitch Ezra Pound

WRITING

“The reward of art
is not fame or success
but intoxication.”
—Cyril Connolly,
The Unquiet Grave
___________

When I’m plotting—
and writing fiction

I’m very fond of—
coincidences in plots
____________

And situations that—
are almost but not

Quite incredible—
out of nowhere
__________

They just pop out—
of my head…

How else can—
possibly say it?

PULP FICTION

“That is why so many 
bad artists are unable to
give it up.”—Patricia Highsmith
________

Not a very big bedroom—
a nightstand full of books

Mostly paperback books—
beat-up classic fag fiction
___________

I liked them since I was—
a closety gay teenager

Cruising the drug store—
the bus and train stations
_________

Maybe you think that’s—
queer I like Pulp Fiction

You should’ve seen me—
sucking off those sailors

THE BOY WHO FOLLOWED FICTION

“Tom saw blue jeans
and tennis shoes. The 
boy from the bar.”
—Patricia Highsmith,
The Boy Who Followed Ripley
___________

It didn’t turn out to be a—
mugging, the kid was polite

He was goodlooking like—
some young ones are
___________

And so I took him under—
my wing for the usual affair

Menace lurks in familiar—
places like a bulging crotch
__________

My subversive cold logic—
usually puts 2 & 2 together

I was bored anyway, dears—
I needed a cute new trick

MURDER 101

“Murder, in Patricia Highsmith’s
hands, is made to occur almost
as casually as the bumping of a
fender or a bout of food poisoning.”
—Robert Towers, New York
Review of Books
_____________

He was a cute young freshman—
so many of them around campus

The ordinariness of his male—
beauty was rather stunning
___________

I was used to depicting the—
daily lives & mental mind-fucks

You know, like Miss Capote’s—
travails with “In Cold Blood”
_________

Wooing and schmoozing with-
them, milking out the details

Young psychopaths on campus—
surely a dime-a-dozen, honey

DOMESTICATION OF CRIME

“The domestication 
of crime in her fiction”
—Robert Towers, New York
Review of Books
____________

Implicating the reader—
that’s only half the story

The sordid fantasy that’s—
being worked out, dear
__________

It needs daily life and—
ordinariness of details

The daily lives & mental—
processes of psychopaths
_______

It’s like food poisoning—
that tainted cumly taste

There’s nothing fictional—
about being a gay Author

CALM IMMORALITY

“keeping us on his side”
—Frank Rich, NYTimes Magazine
_________

Keeping us on his side—
demonic American hustler

Keeping Tom mock-heroic—
all the way going down
__________

It takes more than just—
the usual str8t Circus Act

It takes a Trapeze Queen—
like a lovely Olga Baclanova
__________

Entertaining a captive—
audience of astute readers

Takes a sociopathic gay—
con man like Highsmith

OLGA BACLANOVA

I suppose you’ll ask me next—
the social significance of it all

Being a Freak shouldn’t be new—
to any of you now however
____________

Whether you’re a Queen Bee—
up there on the swinging Trapeze

Or down here in the gutter—
pearls wallowing in the sawdust
_______________

Tragic beautiful Olga Baclanova—
once Starlette of the Carnival

Up there above the unruly Mob—
heavenly Star of the Circus
__________________

Only to fall from grace down to—
the carnie sawdust of the rubes

Leered at as nothing more than—
a squawking CHICKEN WOMAN!!!
______________

Clucking cross-eyed hopeless—
just another weird Freak

Fallen from heights of Beauty—
down into the depths of Ugly

SORDID OFFICE HOURS

“Savage in the way 
of Rabelais or Swift”
—Joyce Carol Oates
New York Review of Books
______________

Murder happens all the time—
during office hours in Denny

No big mystery, my dears—
it’s like food poisoning
____________

One gags and almost—
Vomits but not quite really

It takes patience and—
performance to do the Trick
____________

Eliciting the exquisite—
menace of young teen meat

There’s nothing quite—
like it psychopathic pricks

DENNY HALL

“For eliciting the menace
that lurks in familiar
surroundings, there’s no
one like Patricia Highsmith”
—TIME
_____________

Amidst all those old—
aging Hitlerjungend faculty

I considered myself lucky—
not to have that haunting
__________

Sullen Schadenfreude—
during the rather ratty Sixties

I preferred Marlene Dietrich—
and her Weimar Swansongs
__________

You know, like down in the—
lovely Reichstag bunker, dear

“I can’t help it” Marlene sang—
“I’m falling in love again…”

DOING RIPLEY

“Bonjour, madame” she
spat at him. She missed
his face, missed him
entirely, and plunged on
toward the Rue St. Merry”
—Patricia Highsmith,
Ripley’s Game
__________________

I never got along with my—
colleague Professor Schlong

Such a petty pompous—
Prick from the Fatherland
____________

I suppose an ex-Nazi had—
to play it straight for Tenure

He couldn’t conceal though—
his haughty Hitler demeanor
_____________

His pompous Nazi prick—
oozing there in Denny Hall

The Faculty Bathroom stunk—
when he took his shit there

CREW TEAM DRAG

“Drag?” Eric gave a 
mystified smile. “Drag
for what? A party?”
—Patricia Highsmith,
The Boy Who Followed Ripley
__________

It was down in the basement—
That’s where it was happening

The Real Party going on—
that Saturday Night back then
_____________

The usual Str8t Frat Party—
Going on up there upstairs

But down in the Basement—
That’s where the Action was
__________

The hunky naked Crew Team—
dancing in drag on tables

Loud music and lots of dope—
male hunks make hot dames!!!!



I Was a Teenage Wolfboy


I WAS A TEENAGE WOLFBOY 



Justin Bieber, Yvonne Slime, Whit Bissel 

The Bieber suffers from teenage angst—
and low production values, falling victim
to Director Whit Bissel. The kinky Bissel
turns out to be a bad publicity agent for
Bieber who regresses beyond rock star
back into his (Shock of Horrors!!) primal
past where he sprouts premature pubes
and has nocturnal emissions all the time. 
Misconstrued and full of terrible teenage
longings, the Badboy Wolfboy gets it on 
with his cute long-suffering girlfriend, 
Yvonne Slime, while being pursued by 
all the world’s most rabid chicken queens.

Capitalizing on the recent revival of those
campy Teen Fifties Drive In Flicks, Miss
Bieber stars in a series of hot highschool 
Horror flick spoofs like I WAS A TEENAGE
ZOMBIE, TEENAGE MUTANT FAG HAGS,
I MARRIED A TEENAGE MONSTER FROM
OUTER SPACE, TEENAGE BAD BOY, TEEN
CRIME WAVE, I WAS A TEENAGE HORNY
FRANKENSTEIN, I WAKE UP CREAMING,
I WAS A TEENAGE BEAUTY QUEEN…

Songs of the ‘80s are remixed for the new
Soundtracks—including groups like The
FLESHTONES, THE WAITRESSES, THE DREAM 
SYNDICATE AND VIOLENT FEMMES.





Saturday, June 22, 2013

Hanna and Leni

HANNA UND LENI — 

LOVEBIRDS OF DAS REICH



Butchy Hanna Reitsch—
Lesbos Luftwaffe Queen Bee

Falls in love with Dyke Diva—
Lesbos Leni Riefensthal 
_____________

Their Interplanetary Honeymoon—
Messerschmitt Rocket Ship to

The beautiful Red Planet Mars—
then Neptune’s New Las Vegas 
____________

Riefensthal films their romance—
TRIUMPH OF THE TITS

Then back to the Berlin Bunker—
for Götterdämmerung Gang Bang!!!




Weimar Weltschmerz


WEIMAR WELTSCHMERZ 


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiM7G6bqlPQ 


“Falling in love again
Never wanted to
What am I to do?
I can't help it”
—Marlene Dietrich
“Falling in Love Again”
_____________

Here I go again, my dears—
Falling in Weltschmerz again
What am I do but wallow
In Weimar again?

Love's always been my game—
Down in the bunker again
Play it how they may
They can't help it
_________

Men cluster to me—
Like moths around a flame
So what if their wings burn
I’m just a Luftwaffe dame

Weimar Weltschmerz again—
Never much wanted to
What am I to do?
I just can't help it