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Pen Points
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Suck This, Masked Man: Two Poems by Perry Brass
Because George Bush Because George Bush can't suck dick he wants war. He has buried desire six feet under all that Texas-jock regular-guyism. He's 'uh bidness' man who's gotta keep his pecker clear outta politics, and is mightily embarrassed at ol' Jefferson Clinton: trailer-trash from Yale, vain and randy as a he-goat was he, smart as a razor strop, but he, G.W,. can't gloat. He knows what he can't do: think, talk or slurp cock. So he wants war. Clinton was the devil, you know, the Pan-legged, sax-blowin', hootchie dancer; his heart chopped and spread over myriad gestures that felt up your pain, but did little rock-hard good: Still, he wouldn't-a destroyed the country or sold it to the oil suckers- those little men in big cars with their whistle-clean cowboy boots, who kick back after a full day o' roundin' up th' dollars to let loose with a good hee-haw about big-tiddied cheerleaders and the red-blooded boys who revere 'em. Naw, not Clinton: he liked a good mystery, liked to talk history, get his dick sucked, smile for the cameras. He cued beautifully. He had that lush sincerity that lies so sincerely on top of sincerity. He'll be blessed by our instruments of culture, the entertainment and publicity industries, who'll clear away a bit of Manhattan real estate just for him: they will plow money under his name. His silvery tree will shine down reflections of our own faces upon us, and his wife will water it demurely with the tears of the poor. Then, at some point, we'll emerge from all those bankrupt multiplexes, all showing the same David Geffin flick, pulled from an idea whose time has come- and gone, and come, and gone-about twenty-six or seven times, leaving it as sweet and slick as a Mickey Dee's vanilla 'shake; and then we'll find ourselves, face-to-race, with the same questions the country faced about four hundred years ago: Where is the wilderness, and how do we keep it safe from us? Who can we sacrifice in our big, open spaces? And are we really happy now, that the pursuit of it is assured? The questions peeve us: if we could just crawl into the heart of Jesus, where Georgie Junior is playing solitaire, maybe chugging at a brewski, smoking a cheroot, and hoping Daddy'll pay attention soon and be proud of him. No, Junior ain't done nuthin' wrong, been a good boy, made money, bought a ball team, has even given up chasing pusi- llanimous activities. Did all such good things so our Lord might forgive him for bein' such a little pisser, a trickle, where our new Eden deserved a River: a vastness, a vision- something we knew Clinton could have done if he just knew how to keep his pants zippered and his mouth shut, when the poop hit the fan and there was nothing left in him for him to give-or even take. These things we know in those dark nights of sorrow when our roots hit the bottom, and the sun waits Because George Bush, page 4, (no stanza break between pages) way out there in the West, where sits that catch in the great American enterprise, smartly packaged by the national lie machine; which knows that behind every new mink coat and Cadillac lies this vast, crying stretch of unseen life-green and genuine-and those who plowed and hammered enough space around it to make themselves bitter or glorious, want to rip the life right out of it. O, why can't we see clearly through our blind energy, the earth that binds us? It's all new here. All new. Please, the dead who fell for what we cannot say tell us: Go into it. Go. And find some tender hand there that will guide yours and allow you to rest apart, at last, from your big knives and your guns.
Perry Brass
Suck This, Masked Man
He come from the East.Yale. Skull-and-Bones. Connecticut prep school- Daddy buys grades. He ride in SUV to bring truth, justice, and nuclear energy to townspeople! No more corruption! No more Bay Watch honky-tonk girls! No more nookie-and-cookies in Oval Office. Dignity is he. He speak little. He talk in mono-uhhh-little words Like real man. He bring baseball, pork-'n'-beans, and cibilization to 'Merica. He call it good. I call it: BIG MONEY smoke screen. You call it bullshit that stinks up environment. I am quick in mocassins. I sleep one eye open. I am trusty guide and ever-faithful-hunky redman, like in comic books. You see me in loincloth and barechest. Okay, you want no loin cloth? Sorry! Republicans don't like that. They put me here in shopping-mall-country only for public relations, like Condoleeza Rice and Collin Powel. We all know our place in the comics. Masked Man is boss with squinty eyes in black business suit. He say he's for Texas. He say he's for big, powerful country- clubs in Connecticut. He son of square shooter in old Kinnebunkport, where girls wear nice pearls and know how to keep their bushes tight. Masked Man will save the world from Chinee, bad art, bad homo-sekshal marriage- nobody want bad homo-sekshal marriage! They want state police to scare away drug-addict-child-molesters from Ten O' Clock News. They want safety from Iranians, Albanians, Lithuanians, North Koreans, Martians and West Hollywood style queens. The Masked Man tell me we will spend huuuuuuuuuge money to protect sky. Keep away missles from house of rain god, who's pissed off from acid rain making brown glop on green globe: rain god says You better watch yourselves down there! Masked Man is fucking with planet! He's on his high horse with big hat and he needs to get smart and mind it- leave it the way he find it and not like phoney advertisements for Bud Lite, Big Mac, Cadillac, and Amtrak! He's screwin' with the old gods, the Masked Man is. So I want to tell Lone Ranger to drop good-ol' boy mask and get naked with me; own up to what he's doin'- who he's screwin', while he's sittin' down there with the big money and pretending that all the hard-working townspeople are on top. They're not. You're not. And all your papoosies are not! I'm gettin' on top of you, Masked Man. I'm going to take down your good ol' boy mask and your American-flag boxer shorts. I'm gonna fuck you in the butt with G.O.P. lube- know what I mean?- that oil you want to yank out of Alaska, well, I ain't gonna ask ya, I'm gonna give it to you plain and fasta and fasta. I'm going to make you fart so loud you're going to have to clear out the Grand Canyon of all those tourists who think you're saving the National Parks- then you'll need the Everglades to flush it, so don't let brother Jeb drain 'em. Then, I'm going to stick that Plumber-in-a-Drum Draino up your tight ass, Masked Man - with all your smoke screens! Your hardball drug laws, while we know about all that snow that went up your nose back at Yale before you came West in a covered wagon, covered with dollar bills. You blew blow, bro'! But you didn't blow good. Blow, baby, blow! Take off that squinty-eyed, too-dumb-to-know-better- let-ol'-Dick-Cheney-figger-it-all-out mask. Come to the Red Man. He waits. He likes or'll sex, just like anybody else- ask Willy Clinton. You say you're here to service the people, so get down, Masked Man. Look up. Take off those blinders: Your mask don't even have eyeholes in it- you stay asleep, and it's got the eyes painted on it. So take it off and watch it, cause your trusty sidekick, kimosabe, is ready for you to get down and suck it, Masked Man! Really suck it. There . . . doesn't that feel better without that mask? Ask Andrew Sullivan, ask Mel White, ask anybody you like. Don't be afraid, buddy. Brighten up. You got some future ahead of you. You'll get so good at lip service, boss, that you'll make those dumb ballplayers you used to own and those butch-erino ballerinos at World Federation Wrestling . . . really SUCK.
June 10, 2001 Silent Injustice: The Cries of LGBT Muslims In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, Most Gracious Dear friends,
The Islamic notions of social justice and caring for minorities, orphans, widows, and those that are victimized are espoused by many verses in the Quran as well as a multitude of Hadith (sayings) by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). But Muslims who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, and Muslims of other sexual minorities who do not identify as LGBT have always been excluded from this pretext of justice. In the last 10 years dozens of organizations around the world that support LGBT people and other sexual minorities from Islamic countries have been created. The voices that have fought for tolerance have always been loud but more than 10 years later we have yet to taste the juices of true justice and equality. Today, more than 50 men stood before a state security court in Egypt charged with "exploiting the Islamic religion, spreading extremist ideas, sparking civil strife, and practicing debauchery with men." They appeared in court handcuffed and dressed in white. Several swore and screamed as charges were read out, reciting verses from the Quran to proclaim their innocence. The men were arrested in late May during a police raid on a night club in Cairo. Their case has sent shockwaves through Egypt's gay community, with most internet sites shut down out of fear of recriminations. Last month Al-Fatiha, an international organization dedicated to Muslims who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and their Friends received notice of an alleged fatwa where the leaders of an extremist Islamic organization called for the death of all LGBT Muslims as they were considered "apostates." Less than two weeks ago at a historical United Nation's Summit on HIV/AIDS Islamic countries led the fight for excluding the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission as an NGO present at the proceedings. Less than 3 days into the summit they then led a fierce campaign to exlude mention in the final proclamation of the most vulnerable social groups in society that are pandemically affected by this epidemic (men who have sex with men and commercial sex workers). In the last 30 years while the struggles for justice and equality have progressed in Western countries, the majority of Islamic nations continue to oppress and victimize LGBT people and other sexual minorities. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! It is the responsibility of every Muslim to stand up and speak out against injustice. The time to stay silent has passed! We can no longer sit idle and watch our sisters and brothers around the Islamic world being tortured, arrested, flogged, and even killed, simply because they are sexual minorities within their societies. The right to live freely as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people in Islamic countries (including Egypt) is not only a fundamental human right but it is also a God-given Islamic right. We must fight back! Our plan of action must be strategic and we must work together with other progressive and justice-seeking organizations to further make the point that injustices are in fact linked to one another. The struggles of other oppressed groups including women and religious minorities in Islamic countries is connected to the oppression of sexual minorities as well. But, whatever plan of action we choose, the time to stay silent has passed. The late Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said that "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,"
Together we can fight for true justice and equality. We have slowly tasted the juices of justice and freedom. But we cannot gain peace until we have been granted full access to our lives to live in a free and open world, a world that is free from injustice and oppression!
Yours in the struggle,
Faisal Alam: mfaisalalam@yahoo.com Faisal Alam is a 24 y.o. queer-identified Muslim of Pakistani descent. He is the founder and director of Al-Fatiha, an international organization dedicated to LGBTQ Muslims & Friends. Faisal has been involved in LGBT youth organizing, faith-based work, and in HIV/AIDS outreach and education, for more than 5 years. |
Perry Brass 
Growing up I remember being taught at a very
young age the meaning of justice and the
responsibility and duty of every Muslim to fight
injustice no matter who it affected or where it
took place.
© 1997-2002 BEI