Pride Poets’ Corner, curated by WeHo’s Poet Laureate Brian Sonia-Wallace, would like to spread the word about their upcoming poetry hotline event by showcasing several poets who will be a part of it.
From June 11th-13th poet D.R. Baker will be one of several poets who will be part of the poetry hotline.
Poetry lovers can call to receive their own free custom poem from one of the Pride Poets. This project is supported by a One City One Pride grant from the City of West Hollywood.
D.R. Baker is a transgender Korean lesbian, an activist, and a researcher in transgender student belonging. She holds a doctorate in Education from USC and has been published in Autostraddle and The Toast.
The following poems are works from Baker.
Starlight Smiles By D.R. Baker
This is the smile we arrive at,
not by design, but having stumbled
through dim dead stars still singing,
spread thin after the awe of explosion
or collected in cosmic cancer
forever bending living light
with the presence of what was.
Some have even swallowed it whole,
blotting space with unforgettable absence,
warping time with perpetual past,
into never nothing, terrorizing heaven.
But this angel speak we tongue talk,
stretches back to that uncontainable whisper
which invented eternity to spread its secret,
like our moon-cast selves, mingling shadows,
no telling which fire reflects off our faces,
stretched far into sky as we are,
lips aglow & curled into crescents
AAAAAA
This Queer Cosmos By D.R. Baker
& what else could you possibly expect?
priests tell this kink story
of a celestial sky Daddy,
saying “be”,
& the whole damn everything
exists right there into submission.
zen masters even hit the floor
as Namcheon & Schrodinger’s cats
loudly fuck behind the Buddha.
Charged across a spectrum,
spinning, magnetized, or repulsed,
thick or wet & sweating with stellar perfume,
stretching beyond first skins,
to clear the floor, still dancing as it were
even after the stars burn out.
AAAAA
For more information visit pridepoets.com & @pridepoets.
To get a free custom poem between June 11th-13th call 202-998-3510.
