aids-write.org

[december 1, 2009, world AIDS day]
richard kearns, poet advocate. here is my poem for world AIDS day, 2009. (i have given the clerk copies)

jeff was dying, i was not
a hundred karposi lesions
covered his body &
made him look like
nijinsky in afternoon
with a faun, only skinny

he was my captain of
bright & stormy mornings
my saint & my man
he was my AIDS hero
(more than mine) & i
hated he was leaving me

i wanted to pour into him all
the life left to me —
because i could never hope to be
good enough to survive this plague
by myself, let alone for anyone else —
because i was cannon fodder —
because we needed him

i told him so one day

he laughed & then — i don’t
remember how — he scooped up
my tanned gym-hard bod in his pale &
thin & tangly night-scarred arms &
tender-kissed me several times saying —
here i thought i was pouring my life
into yours. why? because

i believe in you
i believe in you
i believe in you
i believe in you
pass it on

then he was gone
his words do not keep
me from missing him
but they are a comfort
neither god nor quilt has
offered — my own turn
to triumph with a balm
no one else can
discover or manufacture,
invent or create or speak,
medicine compounded with my
blood & toil & tears & sweat

i believe in you
i believe in you
i believe in you
i believe in you
pass it on

i have struggled to do what
jeff could not stay to finish &
sam & jim & russ & steve & the
too too many more. too too
soon your turn will come
let us make each other’s lives
more livable, more filled with sun &
season while we can. never forget

i believe in you
i believe in you
i believe in you
i believe in you
pass it on
pass it on
pass it on

namasté

—richard kearns
(dedicated to cm bill rosendahl)
rk@aids-write.org
http://aids-write.org
http://havvacc.wordpress.com

ITEM NO. (37)
09-2824
CONTINUED CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION (ROSENDAHL - KORETZ) relative to declaring December 1, 2009 as WORLD AIDS DAY in the City of Los Angeles. Recommendation for Council action: RESOLVE to DECLARE December 1, 2009 as WORLD AIDS DAY in the City of Los Angeles, and call upon all the residents and leaders of this great city to join us in heightening the awareness of HIV infection and AIDS prevention and the need for accessible and available testing for all. (Continued from Council meeting of November 24, 2009)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 4:42 am and is filed under HIV prevention justice alliance, LA city AIDS coordinator's office, McCAB, McNC, aging and HIV/AIDS, aids, americans for safe access / la, apla, asian-pacific hiv/aids, barak obama, beingALIVE-la, black msm gay hiv/aids, black women with aids, champ, citizen journalism, contains rks original photography, graphic art, criminalization of HIV/AIDS, cultural activism, faith-based activism, first nations indigenous hiv/aids, gay guys with aids, gay issues, global aids, harm reduction coalition, health justice, healthcare for veterans, hepatitis c, hiv, hiv & assisted care, hiv and veterans, hiv disease, hiv in prison, hiv/aids, hiv/aids in california, hiv/aids stigma, hiv/aids vaccine, la county ca hiv/aids, lag&lc, latina-latino hiv/aids, lgbt, los angeles city, los angeles public art, marriage equality, medical marijuana, national AIDS strategy, pan / patient advocacy network, poetry, politics, politics&poetry, public health policy, same-sex marriage, schac, shamanism, social justice, social marketing, transgender hiv/aids, weho--city of west hollywood, women & girls w/hiv/aids, women's issues, world AIDS day 2009. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.