(poem about how much I want you)

dedicated to and presented for the attendees of the SONG and QEJ "Building A Queer Left" Pre-Forum Meeting at the United States Social Forum
and the girl on the Atlanta-Hartsfield Jackson Airport Photo Mural

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.