A Facebook Status for the Fifth of November

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
oh Jesus, the broflakes are loose,
spare us the mansplaining, actuallies, concern feigning;
and shove it right up your caboose.

Now also available on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/charllandsberg/status/927292951910285312
https://twitter.com/charllandsberg/status/927293029983145989

-o0o-

Insisting Existence

you had better stomp your feet hard

and shout

don't forget to shout

clap your hands

shake your clothes

so the zipper clatters

and the coins in your pocket jingle

made a noise

and let them know

"I exist"

insist

and when they ignore you, persist

you will feel like a fool

and they will bank on that

you will feel hurt

and they will blame you

you will cry out

and they will cry blue murder back at you

never let them tell you

that you don't matter

that you don't exist

never let them tell you

that you have no value

when they bask in the sun

visible and accepted

validated by televisions

while we remain hidden

walled up behind their bigotry

never give up

never give in

don't let them stop you

don't let them win

they'll hurt you, bend you,

break you, make you twist

shatter your ankle

your neck and your wrist

but never stop shouting

"I am here! I exist!"

-o0o-

Incantation

Incantation 1: Evocation - 3000x3000px Vectorish Kind of Drawing
(click for larger image)

set the world achange

with all things weird and strange

with words that shift the axis of all things

like cogs turned in the background

twisting without a sound

and things move, puppets without strings

this is our words like fire

a world changed whole and entire

as new things grow from the song

a life sparked up in the magic

vital, stirring, and frantic

spoken our bones to being strong

-o0o-

Forgotten Heroes (The Leading Ladies of Stonewall)

Stormé DeLarverie, the guardian of lesbians:

"It was a rebellion,

it was an uprising,

it was a civil rights disobedience —

it wasn’t no damn riot."

Marsha P. Johnson, the revolutionary heart for the homeless:

"I was no one,

nobody,

from Nowheresville

until I became a drag queen.

That's what made me in New York,

that's what made me in New Jersey,

that's what made me in the world."

Sylvia Rivera, the queen of charity and activism:

"Today, we have to fight back against the government. 

We have to fight them back. 

They’re cutting back Medicaid, 

cutting back on medicine for people with AIDS. 

They want to take away from women on welfare 

and put them into that little work program. 

They’re going to cut SSI. 

Now they’re taking away food stamps. 

These people who want the cuts – 

these people are making millions and millions and millions of dollars as CEOs. 

Why is the government going to take it away from us? 

What they’re doing is cutting us back. 

Why can’t we have a break?"

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, the rouser for justice:

"Puppy's murder made me aware 

that we were not safe or untouchable 

and that if someone does touch us, 

no one gives a shit. 

We only have each other...

So I started looking out for myself … 

whenever we got into a car [we] would write down as much information as possible. 

We would try (to)...get a guy to walk outside the car so that everyone could see him, 

so we all knew who he was if she didn’t come back. 

That’s how it started. 

Since no one was going to do it for us, 

we had to do it for ourselves."

Brenda Howard, the mother of pride:

"Bi, Poly, Switch—I’m not greedy, I know what I want."

And the Children of the Revolution:

"We are the Stonewall girls

We wear our hair in curls

We don't wear underwear

We show our pubic hair."

-o0o-

I Paint My Nails Black (Ostinado in Black)

I paint my nails black
each stroke a memory
a petty activism that exists
come completely crafted out of me
arise from my fingers
like fully fledged children
dancing off the piano
dancing off the laptop keyboard
I paint my nails black
to make them heavier
to weight the strike
of finger against word and song
beating like fists
I paint my nails black
angry and upsetting
each a protest in silence
a scream in the dark
I will make you see
I will make you hear
I paint my nails black
each song, each word
each summons, each plea
weighted with my heart
the sorrow of loss
the sorrow of pain
echo out of this dark world
strike a flint off the obsidian
that glint in the enamel
to bring about light again
I paint my nails black
I paint my nails black
I paint my nails black
I paint my nails black

-o0o-