___________________________________________________________________________
CAUGHT IN THE NET 99 - POETRY BY
LOUIE CREW
Series Editor - Jim Bennett for The Poetry Kit -
www.poetrykit.org
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You can join the CITN mailing list at
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Submissions for this series of Featured poets is open, please
see instruction in afterword at the foot of this mail.
_________________________________________________________________
|
But one morning,
from; Nattering by Louie Crew |
________________________________________________________________
Louie Crew, was 75 on 9th
December 2011. He is an
Alabama native and an emeritus professor at Rutgers.
He lives in East Orange, NJ, with Ernest Clay, his husband of 37 years.
As of today, editors have published 2,151 of Crew's poems and essays. He has
written four poetry volumes Sunspots (Lotus Press, Detroit, 1976)
Midnight Lessons (Samisdat, 1987), Lutibelle's Pew (Dragon Disks,
1990), and Queers! for Christ's Sake! (Dragon Disks, 2003).
You can
follow his work at
http://rci.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/pubs.html
Crew wrote the first
openly gay materials ever published in Change Magazine, Christianity &
Crisis, Chronicle of
Higher Education, The Churchman, Fellowship Magazine, The Living Church,
Metanoia, and Southern Exposure.
He has been editor of special issues of College English, and
Margins. He serves on the editorial board of Journal of
Homosexuality (1978-83; 89--).
See also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louie_Crew. The
University of Michigan collects Crew’s papers.
______________________________________________________________
2 - POETRY
Don't Hang Up
Don't hang up,
I'm not a heckler.
I NEED your help
but I can't tell you my name.
I'm in a phone booth
while mom buys groceries,
so I won't take long.
I heard your talk show
and I'm scared. Last
summer,
when I was just thirteen,
I balled with a guy
I met at
the bus station.
Now I've got these purple spots
all down my
stomach.
I drink five shakes a day
and I have lost fifteen pounds
in just three months!
I'm afraid to go to our doctor
cause he's my dad.
He'd beat the shit out of me
for liking guys.
Can you tell me somebody else
to call?
Cripes! Here comes mom. Bye!
_________________________________________________________________
To Canterbury
We beat Chaucerian pilgrims by two months,
traveling past sheep in
snow, yet crisped in Jags
and Fords. Forsythian flashes, like
bright flags
along the road, performed some yellow stunts
through
our steamed glass. There, we had a hot lunch,
then stood
beneath the weathered, nuded crags
where once had stood stone saints
in glory. Nags
ushered dull husbands inside, where one bunch
of U.S.C.s, rapt by a Cockney guide,
saw Becket murdered fresh
beneath the Queen
of Spades and pondered skimpy thighs and hide
medieval under a marble maxi. Lean
and watching, a tired
English matron said,
"Well, one cathedral's like another, dead."
_________________________________________________________________
The Gospel Truth
Well, you remember how at Christmas
last year the two fairies down our street
wrote "Bah, Humbug!" on their front door,
using rhinestones in Olde English script
(You know how they are!)?
Well, I just learned that last week
the one who teaches art at the college
told a group of students at a Christmas party
that Jesus was born
without benefit of heterosexuality
and less than nine months
after Mary and Joseph were married!
There really ought to be a law
against such scandal!
If we don't stop them soon,
they'll probably claim
Jesus loves them!
_________________________________________________________________
Fay
My one
earring stores my powers.
It charms my lover into bed.
Worn aisle-side on
buses and trains,
it reserves me a double
seat
until all others are filled.
On
campus it keeps me off all
but the most
enlightened committees.
It is 99% foolproof in protecting me
from wasting time on racists.
At times it has made otherwise sane
folks
dangle from dormitory windows to
giggle,
"Where's your husband?"
Worn with
a cap and gown, it wards off
any threat of
Respectability.
In class, it assures that students question
what I say and not vainly agree
because of
who said it.
In church, it has made stranger priests
spill me a double portion of the Mass....
When I take it off, people take me
for any other mortal.
_________________________________________________________________
Watching the Watcher
I watched God when He made
Adam's penis,
matched it with his own,
checked it out for size,
for
accordianability,
and for fit and feel
in a dozen orifices;
and
I swear
He was happy,
did not draw the curtain,
never smirked,
but winked,
even blinked in anticipation.
I watched God as She made
Eve's vagina,
measured it with Her delicate fingers,
nudged out a dimension,
added springs, nectar, slush,
rejected the notion
of a finger-like
protrusion
self-insertable at the entrance,
purred to experience
for the first time
the joy for which
Eve was being made.
_______________________________________________________________
A Gay Psalm from Fort Valley
Oh, Lord,
we call to you from our apartment
because we are not welcome in the
church hall.
Hear us and help us with this terrible fear.
Do not
freeze our hurt into false smiles.
Deliver us from countenancing in
ourselves
the rumors our enemies spread
about us.
Help our enemies to come to terms
with that in themselves
which they project
on us.
Turn their evil into good, oh God.
Make of their children's
spit on our faces
a salve for healing the
pains
which they have inflicted.
Be
miraculous, God!
Do not fear to show your glory on the side
of your children.
Why have our accusers refused even to hear us?
How
can your Church tolerate spiritual lynchings?
Deliver us from
vigilantes, God.
How they hiss against us,
gossiping on their phones
all the day long.
One of their most articulate ones,
driving
his car to house after house,
peddles the
Vestry's hateful petition
to ask us to
leave.
What does he think as the remnant,
the two loving women,
turn him away?
Is
he ready to be judged with that judgment
which he has meted to us?
Help him, God.
Why do you allow the proud to turn your house
of prayer into a court house?
Why do you allow your priests to bully
us,
to insult us,
to spread lies about
us in their councils,
and yet to ignore us
when we are sick or in danger or in need?
Why have you allowed your house
to become a temple of
self-righteousness
rather than a house of
honest sinners?
About ourselves we have spoken the truth
in love, God,
and the keepers of the Church
have turned us away.
Were we to debauch ourselves with hypocrisies
and in secret to be consumed
in anonymous lust,
they would honor us, God,
and welcome us as
like themselves.
But they have hated us for loving openly
and responsibly.
They ride by our apartment
with orgies in their heads
while we cook supper
and wash dishes together.
Heal this sick town, God.
You promised that the
meek will inherit
the earth, that with
Christ
we are joint heirs
of your everlasting kingdom.
Strengthen us with a sense of being your children.
By your power,
ready us for our witness.
_________________________________________________________________
Chen Yuk Che,
Widow of Leung Bing Ming
and Mother
of the Late Leung Sai Ham,
Requests
the Honor of Your Contribution
at Her Investiture
as a Bag Lady,
on the Lawn
of St. John's Cathedral
Garden Road, Central
just after the Christmas Mass.
Sportswear acceptable.
R.S.V.P. optional.
_________________________________________________________________
Auction
Give me one, give me one, give me one;
I see ya:
one cracker smile.
Give me two, give me two, give me
two cracker
smiles.
Who'll make it three?
Three cracker smiles?
Who'll make
it three?
I see ya! Three cracker smiles.
Three going once,
three going twice,
Sold for three cracker smiles
this pretty
little pickaninny's
photograph just before they blew up
the Sunday
School.
Give me one, give me one, give me one;
I see ya:
One good ol' boy's grunt.
Give me two, give me two, give me
two
good ol' boy's grunts.
Who will make it three?
I see ya: Three
good ol' boy's grunts.
Who'll make it four?
Now surely some one of
you recognizes
a real bargain when you see one.
I mean, it ain't
everyday that you gets
to see wimmin libbers hauled off to jail
and raped. That's better:
Sold to the Colonel there,
one 8
millimeter projector with the full details
for four good ol' boy's
grunts,
with a pair of the panties thrown in for good measure.
Give me one, give me one, give me one;
I see ya:
One basher's knuckles.
Who'll make it two?
I see ya. Two
basher's knuckles.
I see ya. Three basher's knuckles.
Well,
folks, trading's fast here today.
I see ya. Four basher's
knuckles.
Come on now, who'll make it half a dozen?
Four going
once, four going twice
Six basher's knuckles, I see ya.
Half dozen
once, half dozen twice,
Sold, for half dozen basher's knuckles
bid by that man yonder in blue overalls
for one sissy school teacher,
with all of his fancy clothes.
Give me one, give me one, give me one.
Who'll give
me one? I see ya.
Two. Who'll give me two?....
Sold to America.
_________________________________________________________________
Nattering
It happened
without warning.
One day I just started saying out loud
all the
stuff that swarmed inside me.
At first I looked at a person next to me,
and when
she turned away,
I looked at the one next to her,
and when he
turned away
I looked at the one next to....
But one morning,
in a flash of inspiration,
I
realized I did not need to look at anyone,
nor even to wear my funny
hat,
that people listened more closely
if I did not scare them,
did not single them out,
but talked just to the air
like any other
self-respecting crazy or poet.
I quit staring strangers straight in the eyes
as
if each was a long-lost relation
washed up on shore to hear the story
that I alone have escaped to tell.
And it worked. No matter what they
thought
they thought about me,
clearly they started listening
to
everything I said.
And as I named the evils of these times,
I noticed
that people five and six rows away,
or people way the hell to the
other end of a line,
would nod, or mutter "Yes, sister."
Then
someone else would say, "Ain't it so."
Occasionally I would peek
at those who spoke, and
nary a one
actually looked in my direction.
But they listened, and many responded.
A couple of
times fellow travelers
put up such an echo that others
muttered as
they left,
"Bunch of loonies taking over the world"
These too spoke to nobody in particular.
_________________________________________________________________
Ice Cube Poem
(For My Guest Who Caught
Her Brother Holding My Hand
Whilst Her Back Was Turned)
For 4000 years
your turned-up nose
licensed funeral pyres,
ropes,
electric chairs,
&
guillotines.
Even now,
above Lo Wu
on ad hoc nights
your turned-up nose
squeezes snug into armpits
to help squads aim
when brothers stand too long
beyond a final dribble.
Tonight
I'm glad yours wrinkles
without a match, switch, or gun;
but I'll not push my luck
to stick out my tongue
because
60 years ago
Mother told me
that those who make faces
freeze.
______________________________________________
3 - Publishing History
Don't Hang Up
Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services
7.3 (1997): 105-106
Rural Gays and Lesbians.
An Anthology edited by James D. Smith and Ronald Mancoske. NY: Harrington
Park Press, 1997. Pages 105-106
Making Waves
2.2 (February 1995): 2
Don't Hang Up. An Anthology of Poems about AIDS.
Edited by Andrew Miller. Univ. of SD Press, USD AIDS Task Force, & Copen
Foundation, 1993. Crew's title poem appears on p. 16
Blue Productions August 1992. A 3-minute video produced and directed by
Scott Silver. An adaptation of Crew's poem of the same title
Integrity Heartland Voice
June 1992: 11
Integrity/Austin News
7.11 (July 1992): 3
Koinonia
5.5 (May 1992): 11
More Light Update
13.5 (December 1992): 13
Walking With Integrity
1.2 (May 1992): 23
Other Voice
Spring/Summer 1982: no page
Facebook
from March 10, 2011
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10150108056108732
Youtube.
Online from March 29, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP6LUTO5o6o
Poetry Kit
No. 7 (May 2006).
http://www.poetrykit.org/pkmag/pkmag7/004.htm
Ithuriel's Spear
from January 1, 2005.
Poetrykit Anthology
from January 1, 2005
http://www.poetrykit.org/an/125p.htm
To Canterbury
Wilde Oaks
Winter 1993: 45
Candelabrum Poetry Magazine
4.3-4 (1982): 32.
Thursday Stories
5 (1980): Page 53.
Sunspots.
Page 54
http://rci.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/sunspots.html#tocanter
Christian Century
89.1 (1972): 353
Anglican Poetry Contest
20093rd Place Winner for two sonnets from 1/11/2010.
Samsara
from August 6, 2000 - February 2011.
Hot Rod Anglican
From March 26, 2010
http://hotrodanglican.blogspot.com/2010/03/anglican-poetry-contest-third-place.html
Exit 13
Number 15 (2008): 23
The Gospel Truth
Outlook January-February 1995: 11
2nd Rapture No. 8 (December 1991): 1 [Britain]. Used Li Min Hua
Deviance 2.1 (1989): no page
Swish Christmas 1978. Postcard
Youtube A video performance by Louie Crew online from March 15, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5N3R5PRcmjY&feature=player_embedded
Queer Eye for the LectionaryIncluded in Crew's reflections for December 28,
2008
http://queereye4lectionary.blogspot.com/2008/12/sunday-december-28-2008-1st-sunday.html
New Verse News Sundary, December 25, 2005
http://www.newversenews.com/
Queers! For Christ's Sake! From May 12, 2004
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/queers.html#gospel
Witness Magazine in `Reflections for Christmas Day 2004'
http://www.thewitness.org/agw/crew121604.html
Fay
Feh! Journal of Odious Poetry
6 (June 1989), n.p
Men Freeing Men.
Anthology edited by Francis Baumli. Jersey City: New Atlantis Press,
1985. Page 119
Cat's Eye
3 (1981): 16
Mouth of the Dragon
2.1 (1979): 44
Meghdutam
from February 2000.
Otoliths
from December 21, 2007
http://the-otolith.blogspot.com/2007/12/louie-crews-fay-my-one-earring-stores.html
"Fey," Queer Eye for the Lectionary Included in Crew's reflections for March
22, 2009
http://queereye4lectionary.blogspot.com/2009/03/sunday-march-22-2009-fourth-sunday-in.html
Otoliths
8.1 (Southern Summer 2008): 25 [Australia]
Otoliths
from December 21, 2007
http://the-otolith.blogspot.com/2007/12/louie-crews-fay-my-one-earring-stores.html
Queer Eye for the Lectionary Included in Crew's reflections for March 22, 2009 http://queereye4lectionary.blogspot.com/2009/03/sunday-march-22-2009-fourth-sunday-in.html
Watching the
Watcher
Chiron Review
8.1 (Spring 1989): 11
Insight
1.4 (1977): 19
Queer Eye for the Lectionary,
Included in Crew's reflections for April 10, 2011
http://queereye4lectionary.blogspot.com/2010/06/sunday-june-27-2010-fifth-sunday-after.html
Youtube
A video clip online from March 11, 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j36u-PaB3js
Queer Eye for the Lectionary
Included in Crew's reflections for June 27, 2010
http://queereye4lectionary.blogspot.com/2010/06/sunday-june-27-2010-fifth-sunday-after.html
Poetry Super Highway
Poet of the Week (May 8-14, 2006).
http://poetrysuperhighway.com/ppa/ppa454.html#fp2
Ex Animo
from 2002.
Panic! Brixton Poetry
from March 2000. Used Li Min Hua
http://homepages.which.net/~panic.brixtonpoetry/watching.htm
Quean
Lutibelle's Scrapbook on the Bishops of The Episcopal Church.
Swish Publications 1994, 1997, 1998. 127 pp
A Gay Psalm from Fort Valley
Bound By Diversity.
Columbia, SC: Sebastian Press, 1994. (A bound anthology, also published as
Empathy 4.1-2). Edited by James Sears. Pages 176-176
Literature Around the Globe
Edited by Tuzyline Jita Allan and Thomas Fink. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt
Publishing, 1994. Pages 171-173. (A college textbook)
Open Lines: Gay and Lesbian Poetry in Our Time.
An Anthology edited by Carl Morse and Joan Larkin. St. Martin's Press,
1988. Pages 88-90
New Ways Project Part of informational packet. 1983
Integrity Informer
2.4 (1978): 6-7.
Integrity Forum
2.7 (1976): 4
Whosoever
9.2 (September/October 2004)
http://www.whosoever.org/v9i2/psalm.shtml
Know Theatre of Cincinnati
performed as part of ~Torn~ in the 2002 season.
Youtube
Online from March 24, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkW7wqurvLI
Chen Yuk Che,
Fall Down/Get Up.
from June 1999. Used Li Min Hua.
Northland Quarterly
2.3 (1990): 75. Used Li Min Hua
Witness
71.12 (1988): 23. Used Li Min Hua
Queer Eye for the Lectionary
Included in Crew's reflections for August 28, 2010
http://queereye4lectionary.blogspot.com/2010/08/sunday-august-29-2010-fourteenth-sunday.html
Angelic Dynamo
Online from February 21, 2009--June 2010. One of 3 finalists for February
2009.
http://www.angelicdynamo.com/poems/02/
Zafusy
From April 2005.
Queers! For Christ's Sake!
From May 12, 2004
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/queers.html#chenyuk
Auction
Pink Cadillac
1.2 (Summer-Fall 1998) Used Li Min Hua.
Slipstream.
Poem recorded by Louie Crew for 'American Contemporary Headcheese. One of
ten poets on Slipstream Audio No. 2. January 1988
Poet Lore
80.2 (1985): 89-90
Youtube
A video performance by Louie Crew online from March 14, 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahvfon56iTM
Jotspeak.com
From August 2010
http://www.jotspeak.com/opensocial/ningapps/show?appUrl=http://gadget.jotspeak.com/app/0.2.19/opensocial/apps/my-audio.xml?ning-app-status%3Dnetwork&owner=37dfhvp0e53zv&xgs=1&xgi=1a9Q5kamUIp3Xh&xg_source=msg_share_url
Pulsar
#55 (June, 2010. as Pulsar Webzine #3.
http://www.pulsarpoetry.com/Pulsar_Webzine_Poems.htm#Auction
Quean Lutibelle's Pew.
Dragon Disks: Newark, NJ, 1990. Page 36
Nattering
Hurricane Alice:
A Feminist Quarterly 6.2 (Spring, 1989): 3. Used Li Min Hua
Youtube
Online from April 3, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lkOLl4XNq0
Fossil Record
4:29 from April 2010
http://www.thefossil.com/vol4no29.htm
Jotspeak.com
From August 2010 -- ??/2011.
Queer Eye for the Lectionary
Included in Crew's reflections for January 25, 2009
http://queereye4lectionary.blogspot.com/2009/01/sunday-january-25-2009-third-sunday.html
Queers! For Christ's Sake!
from May 12, 2004
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/queers.html#natterin
Ex Animo from 2002.
Ice Cube Poem
Brave New Tick
4.7 (1996): 10
RFD
13.3 (1987): 49. Used Li Min Hua
Label
7 (1986): 49. Used Li Min Hua
Self and Society. European Journal of Humanistic Psychology.
4.5 (1986): 216. Used Li Min Hua.
Queers! For Christ's Sake!
From May 12, 2004
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/queers.html#icecube
Step Into My Shoes: Expressions from the LGBTQ Community
An anthology edited by Tonja Dudley Bagwell. Jafansta, Inc., 2011. ISBN:
978-098-346340-5. Page 3
Hudson View Poetry Digest
[South Africa] Winter Poets (December 2009): 61
__________________________________________________________________
4 - Afterword
Email Poetry Kit -
info@poetrykit.org - if you would like
to tell us what you think.
We are looking for other poets to feature in
this series, and are open to submissions. Please send one poem and a short
bio to - info@poetrykit.org
Thank you for taking the time to read Caught in the Net. Our other magazine s
are Transparent Words ands Poetry Kit Magazine, which are webzines on the Poetry Kit site and this can be found at -
http://www.poetrykit.org/