The day the gays danced the hate away

Who showed up at the gay pride parade in Portland this year? None other than several members of the Westboro Baptist Church carrying signs saying "God Hates You"

They showed up unceremoniously,
trudging in from the swamps of
God's scabrous, tortured soul
sporting their ignorance like
a sagging toupee
undulating their skyscraping signs celebrating
the glory of god's hatred
for the technicolored merrymakers
wearing their love
like hemoglobin
dispersing life to life itself
like cherry chapstick smooching the sun
til it blushed,
pasties and tassels
multicolored flags and sunglasses,
sateen and sinewed
salacious and sun-kissed,
radiant mermen and merwomen
and nongendered merpeople
swimming and prancing about the grasses
a bicycle chariot pulled up and blasted
"Where is the love?" by the Black Eyed Peas
and the "knuckledragging mouthbreathers"
as my bartender would fume later,
ironically, hating,
couldn't locate the love.
Seemingly it had been beaten out
as wide eyed children
their ranting preachers and raging fathers
like tanks
steamrolling the hearts right out of them,
toothpaste guts, but,
that day the gays swayed with their pride,
their parade,
they'd been hated, hunted,
gunned down in numbers in Orlando,
not 7 days before.
The least injury, perhaps,
being spat on, pride kicked off them like a sweaty blanket,
but not this day.
This day they would pray to their own god.
A god who knew hatred to be tasteless,
archaic, gaudy, passé, dull as a tennis ball.
A god who knew where the love can be found, which is anywhere, really,
if you look for it.

A victory for the gays that day,
that the hate packed up its sacks of venom
and slunk back to its grotto.
And there was more dancing,
more merrymaking
but I couldn't have been the only one
whose stomach sucked peach pits til sick
knowing they hadn't learned a thing.

Author's Note

Still tinkering, not fully satisfied with the ending, it feels cliche

Reviews

[h d e rushin]

you have to have a soul to write like you do Ms Shepherd. It's hot in California. I've been there and it is true. the people of California, being nearest the Pacific and to almond trees, with the specter of
fire and Santa Ana winds, know that to see a thing happening is to comment on it. The hippy movement, which happened long before your time, had so many political overtones. That was not accidental.
No, not at all.

But today, it is easier to say LGBT to a stranger, while "gay or "lesbian" still causes some eyebrows
to rankle. Not lost on the point here is your desire to be (with that same California passion) the
voice of reason, not just the one of revulsion . Honor, I believe, is still a Christian commentary..
Beautifully written....no further tinker is necessary......dana

[M. Shepherd]

Thank you so much Dana - I think passion is best tempered by rationality, every person we see or know, "good" or "bad" is three dimensional, and likely harboring hosts of stories we couldn't possibly imagine.

[Chris]

Sometimes the reality IS all there is... and THAT IS a cliche too.

[AquaWater5674]

I was filled...
By fascination ..
By this piece...
Delightfully Illustrated...
Like a portrait...
Only in words..
It reminded me of George Michael..
And Queen...
And...the many gay friends I have had over the years..
Who were truly good friends..
And stood by me in my time of need..
And I knew...
That the true God..
The GOD Of the Universe..
Had sent them to me at that time...
I was a Hospice Nurse for many years..
And have been very privileged to have been
Whitnessed many Spiritual things..
This poem ..
Is Spiritual..
the Wisdom of the Ages..
Thank You..
It brought back many good memories..
Debbie

[Robert Parlange]

Those clowns showed up 10 years ago at my college protesting the local gay alliance. In a show of solidarity, the students shouted them down. They practice a twisted, perverted form of Christianity that only a demented mind could follow. What was worse, is that they were dragging their children around with them, sharing and perpetuating their hatred for another generation. For their sakes and their children's sakes, I hope God has a sense of humor. Although I can't find anything remotely funny about it.

I liked the poem. The long rambling sentences worked perfectly for the subject. I liked the ending.

[M. Shepherd]

Thank you Robert - what a terror they were 10 years ago and what a terror they continue to be today. Those poor kids.

[W.k.kortas]

There is a certain feel of something you'd find in, say, Shelley's 19th Century commentary on the issues of the day, in the sense that it's very out front as opposed to being fussily parable-like. I'm generally a fussy parable guy, myself, but there are times and places for plain speaking, this being one of those, so I think you have that right. Along those lines, I think the ending works-- I'd say "broad" more than "cliché", and there are occasions where you leave the rapier at home and bring a blade with a bit more heft.

[M. Shepherd]

Thank you Ken - well put. :) though I do enjoy the thematic subtleties of fussy parables - subtle is not my strong suit. Hahha.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

whether you tinker more or not...this is really good Marcie...so many hate in the name of God, or kill in the name of God...
what God would want this?

i don't know of one who would teach this...but churches teach it...christians teach it to other christians...

those people should all be lined up in a club and shot----maybe with some drug that would change their line of thinking...and turn to acceptance and love.

wicked write.

j.

[M. Shepherd]

Thank you so much Jacob, and yes these attitudes will die off I predict, it's such antiquated and ignorant, fear-driven thinking.

[. serah .]

-- you write amazing poetry, M. ... -- florida was tragic... it caused a kind of unbearable pain... and i can see that your tribute honours the victims...

-- philosophically speaking, i just have a problem with the concept of God... and almost all religions that i know of... are anti the LGBTQ community... -- in india, we still have section 377... which is an archaic law from the time that the british ruled here and it actually criminalizes homosexuality... the matter is in court now and rational indians of all hues await the amendment of section 377 so that the human rights of the LGBTQ community can be acknowledged and respected legally... (even before true social change happens)...

[M. Shepherd]

Garsh thank you serah - that is so intense! India takes the cake for extremity. Extreme poverty, extreme laws. Though I don't suppose it was too long ago homosexuality was illegal here - in some states the blue law criminalizing sodomy still exists. We've come a long way but have so much further to go.

[. serah .]

-- you're welcome, M. ... voices like yours are needed desperately by all societies... because we do need to get to that place where we respect everyone and truly celebrate diversity...

[AquaWater5674]

So very true...