"The Revolution (We Never Wanted)" and "Body Fluid Cleanup Kit"

The Revolution (We Never Wanted)

We’re the Sanskrit, the Olde English,
the queer and forgotten tale.
 
We’re the endangered species, the dying breed,
the mutations that Darwin refused to catalog.
 
Our legacy is of tongues tasted, not spoken—
of bodies liberated, not assimilated.
 
We remember the ACT/UP, the fuck yous, the
Shove your marriage and your children and your
 
heterosexual privilege up your virgin white assholes.
We’re the breed the breeders said couldn’t survive.
 
We’re the ones that remember words like buggery
and deviant, fairy and fudge packer and pansy—
 
Words we traded and collected
like bubble gum cards.
 
We’re the ones they said must recruit because we couldn’t reproduce.
To which we replied with mouths full of laughter and each other—
 
I may not be able to get my boyfriend pregnant,
but dammit, I’m going to keep trying!
 
We were the ones proud that we were more men than our schoolyard
bullies would ever be, and more women than they would ever get.
 
We laughed through bloody teeth that their girlfriends
would never learn how to suck a cock half as well—
 
so go fuck
yourselves.
 
We were the ones who wouldn’t go to
the weddings of our straight friends.
 
Who at one time had straight friends, and then didn’t,
And never felt the loss.
 
We’re the ones who celebrated the fact that our fucking
wasn’t breeding, who adored our lives of childlessness,
 
who built families of choice, not out of obligation or by
accident, and knew every lover we took was a miracle.
 
We’re the last of our kind—walking fossils of separation and defiance,
and when we’re gone, the world will never know our like again.
 
We’ll be replaced by the metrosexuals, the bi-curious,
the twenty-something gay-but-I-don’t-want-to-define-myself,
 
the two daddies and their little girl on the rainbow cruise,
the lesbian talk show host, the Log Cabin Republican.
 
The ones who never knew the gift of being the outcast,
of being hated, of having to rise above.
 
We’ll be replaced by the ones who won’t pause
to think about the revolution we made possible.
 
The revolution we never even wanted.

Body Fluid Cleanup Kit

            blood stains cotton
 
but you’ll never again have to worry about
those stains those old stains those sticky blood-
 
            so much blood
            so much old dried blood
 
red streaks on your carpet or walls not to worry
$29.95 satisfaction guaranteed or we’ll even
return your shipping and handling
it’s absolutely new 21st-century technology to clean
up those pesky yes even the toughest traces of
 
            body fluids
 
old blood dried blood order today
you’ll never know there was
 
            so much blood
            so incredibly much blood
 
ever such a mess you’ll just sweep
up the bits you’ll just sponge it clean
 
            the dripping sweat the sun baked meat
            the smell the flies
 
no no no it’s easy and quick no muss no fuss just
a dash of our product on a damp rag is all it takes
so easy even the kids will love it
 
            blood on the sand how can you clean
            blood off the sand
 
sometimes a mess can’t just be wiped away
that’s a tough job or how about those
 
            roadside fried sticky
            red helmets
 
pots and pans? not a problem it’s new and it’s free
with your order now super heavy duty
 
            body fluid
            cleanup kit
 
free international shipping just sweep up that
lumpy mess like clumping kitty litter make
your home crisp and clean and lemon-scented
fresh be sure to don’t forget to always
remember to follow our instructions
wear those rubber gloves and
 
            keep it out keep it out keep it out
            from under your fingernails
 
then rinse it rinse it rinse it with clean water
distilled water fresh mountain spring water
 
            rain water washing the dead
            rinsing sweat body fluids blood
 
our product is heavier than water and our special formula
breaks it up and takes it out of your way off the couch
off the walls off the news off the radio off the TV
look at at that look at that look at that
where instead we watch
 
            look at them
 
infomercials while our freezer bags hide those pesky
stains red-blasted messes sticky messes you ship
postage paid cash or delivery cover of darkness
money back guarantee two for the price of one plain
brown wrapper delivery guaranteed
 
            shipped home
            no cameras at the airport
 
put your problems behind you worries gone forever
 
            under the flag
            under the ground
 
washed away and forgotten and new
now you can take a travel pack in the car or
on a plane share it with a friend clean it up
disinfect those hard to reach dirty places disinfect
them clean them up feel chained to your work
chained to past spills break those chains
and wipe it down kill the germs that
cause bad breath kill the odors kill the
stains kill the pests kill those ugly brown
pests kill them kill bugs dead and scrub
 
            the desert
            the sand
 
scrub
 
            the knives
            the uniforms
 
the pots the pans the floors the
walls and you’ll never again have
to see those pesky red and brown
stains they’ll be gone forever from your
 
            bloody pavement bloody sand
            bloody ruins bloody ghetto
 
life $29.95 we pay the shipping we do the
dirty work it just takes a little elbow grease
 
            bloody prisons bloody TV
            bloody hands bloody flags
 
you’re not afraid of a little work are you
you got it bring it on you break it you own
it just don’t forget the gloves for gods sake
 
            don’t forget
            the gloves
 
keep it off your hands our product
 
            blood
 
is very hard to clean
 
            is very hard to clean
 
off your hands
 
            off your hands