Backtrack and Other PoemsThe poems in this collection represent, for the most part, my experience with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome---AIDS---both on a personal level and as response to the illness and death among so many friends, lovers, and others.I have learned unexpectedly that AIDS is not the end of my ife;cocktails of effective drugs, replete with some of the familiar, disagreeable side- effects, keep me quite alive.I am as encouraged to live on as I feel deadened by the memory of this lasting plague. The shadow of AIDS lingers, of course.We must not forget those who have died as well as the lethal character of this syndrome, even as some lives are prolonged.But I hope these poems express a look toward a future less uncertain and not so necessarily defined in the context of the grim reality of disease pr |
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alive amphetamine b-movie Bill of lading black night blue body boxes breathe Bronx bumble bee children on broken cigarette coffin collapse colour common cold commotion coughing crawling dancing like children dark dead death drag queen dreams drops of blood embarassed embrace eyes face fall false door father feel sorry FIN DE SIECLE fingers fire forget fucking AIDS gaspara gleam glow hear heart imagine james dean jesus joke keep wondering knew laugh light LIZA MINNELLI London August London March loneliness look lover masturbating mean memory mind moon morning mother movie never Noel Carroll numbers painting panic poem pretending pull queen regret remember everything remind Revised robe routine sal mineo says shadows dancing shouting sighs silence skin smile soft someone song stars stop street sword talking tears television tell Teresa Wright things thrilled touching turn voice waiting window words wrong
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Page 31 - Then I went back into the house and wrote, It is midnight. The rain is beating on the windows. It was not midnight. It was not raining.
Page 115 - While them that defend what they cannot see With a killer's pride, security It blows the minds most bitterly For them that think death's honesty Won't fall upon them naturally Life sometimes Must get lonely.