birthday-centric: Frank O'Hara

I'm not going to explain anything about Frank O'Hara to any of you because you can just go to the homo-centric post from last year. If you don't know of him you'll lose your Gay Card so you better check it out!

Here's one of his poems for you, maybe for someone special, for Frank O'Hara's birthday, for you to read & enjoy.

HAVING A COKE WITH YOU

is even more fun than going to San Sebastian, Irún, Hendaye, Biarritz, Bayonne
or being sick to my stomach on the Travesera de Gracia in Barcelona
partly because in your orange shirt you look like a better happier St. Sebastian
partly because of my love for you, partly because of your love for yoghurt
partly because of the fluorescent orange tulips around the birches
partly because of the secrecy our smiles take on before people and statuary
it is hard to believe when I'm with you that there can be anything as still
as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary when right in front of it
in the warm New York 4 o'clock light we are drifting back and forth
between each other like a tree breathing through its spectacles

and the portrait show seems to have no faces in it at all, just paint
you suddenly wonder why in the world anyone ever did them

I look
at you and I would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world
except possibly for the Polish Rider occasionally and anyway it's in the Frick
which thank heavens you haven't gone to yet so we can go together the first time
and the fact that you move so beautifully more or less takes care of Futurism
just as at home I never think of the Nude Descending a Staircase or
at a rehearsal a single drawing of Leonardo or Michelangelo that used to wow me
and what good does all the research of the Impressionists do them
when they never got the right person to stand near the tree when the sun sank
or for that matter Marino Marini when he didn't pick the rider as carefully
as the horse

it seems they were all cheated of some marvelous experience
which is not going to go wasted on me which is why I am telling you about it

—Frank O'Hara

di-VERSE-ity Sunday June 19th

homo-centric: on record is June 23rd

re·cord (rek′ərd)

transitive verb
to put in writing, print, etc. for future use
to register (sound or visual images) in some permanent form
to register the performance of (a musician, actor, composition, etc.)

Origin: Latin: recordari, to call to mind, recount, recite (also, to sing, practice a tune, warble)

homo-centric goes 'on record' with a pop-up gallery full of queer words & images. We're invading the ARTbeat West Hollywood pop-up gallery on Thursday June 23rd at 7:30 pm. The gallery is located at:
8300 Santa Monica Blvd in West Hollywood, 90069.

Check out the lineup for the evening:

Claudia Rodriguez is a writer/activist/knowledge worker. She teaches through HIV/AIDS prevention education, art workshops and her performances, has been published in Blithe House Quarterly & Tongues Magazine. She's a proud co-founding butch of the Butchlalis de Panochtitlan, a sketch-driven performance/ installation/video ensemble.

Corey Saucier is a writer, performer and post Queer lyrical philosopher. He cultivates his personal histories into a public voice that echoes themes of gay minority identity, the neo-positive perspective, queer faith and the crystal-meth epidemic. Corey's solo show Beautiful Abomination was part of Highway's BEHOLD: Queer Festival in July 2010.

Martin Martinez is the driving force and and uber-talented front man for the glitter glam Los Angeles rock band Sounds of Asteroth. The group's latest CD The Inventors is available on iTunes.

Travis Wood has appeared as a "performance artist" in clubs, alleys, street corners and festivals throughout California. He has performed with the Knightsbridge Theater Company, Dream Circus Theater Co., Highways Performance Space & Queer Mondays. Currently he is working on Turning Grimm Fairy Tales into Queer Stories and Working on Monologues & Performances inspired by his Queer life. He'll premiere his film 'The Witch & Fundevogel.'

Kalil Cohen As Metahuman, Kalil blends old-school rap metaphors with radical queer politics & a visceral love of flow & offers up thought-provoking rhymes laced with unforgettable dance rhythms. Kalil's recent passion is the TG FILM FEST presented by the Trans/Giving arts collective featuring films by trans, genderqueer, and intersex filmmakers. He'll be showing his film 'Queerer Than Thou.'

hank henderson is a writer/performer and the curator of homo-centric. His show Greetings From the Fugue State was a part of Highway's BEHOLD: Queer Festival. He likes kitties & sunshine & dreams in technicolor.

Can't wait to see you there!

Presented by the City of West Hollywood as part of the month long celebration One City/One Pride.

homo-centric is Going Comando Thurs June 16th!

This month homo-centric is going commando with our first open mic night. That means it's up to you, Centrics.

It doesn't matter if you're a poet who knows it, a closeted orator, the next great American novelist, a napkin scribbler or a working scribe we want to hear your words.

Rules:
Sign up at 7pm
6 minutes max
If there's too many people we'll cap it at 10.
If there's not enough people we can all read twice (so bring two possible pieces to read).
Either way, we're going to hang loose & enjoy the evening.

We usually get there around 6:30 to
* Order an iced coffee or tea & have a sandwich!
* Hang out & meet other writers.
* Wander the aisles & buy a book.

We depend on the kindness of strangers so tell a friend, bring two or three!

Remember: we'll be outside so dress weather-appropriate! See you there!

Curated by Hank Henderson
Hosted by Stories Books & Cafe *
1716 Sunset Blvd., between Le Moyne & Logan
Parking available in the lot on Le Moyne St. Map here.

What We're Reading Wednesday: Will Grayson, Will Grayson

I had a really good time reading Adonis Garcia. I loved the way it was written because I'm not a huge fan of punctuation and the author Luis Zapata uses spaces when        he wants              a pause              in the conversation         to be        effective. Also, I kept thinking that it was so 'out' for being written over 35 years ago, so unapologetic & open with the fact that yes, there was gay sex & even gay people (gasp) before disco outed everybody on the dance floors in the 1970's.

Still, when I was finished, I wanted to pull myself back into the present with whatever I read next. So I looked in my Firefox bookmarks where I have an entire folder titled 'Books to read/buy' that has books like Embers by Terry Wolverton - who is a-gay-zing...or a-lesbian-zing. And have you seen that Embers is now a jazz opera? FREE performance as part of the Grand Performances series Downtown Los Angeles. That's what can happen when you don't sit in a box, my Centrics. Think big, write big, dream big. Who knows? You might wake up one day with a book like Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

See, WG,WG is written by two authors, John Green & David Levithan. The chapters alternate between two characters both named Will Grayson - one gay, the other veryclose to a gay friend. I'm not even a third of the way through & I've laughed out loud several times, garnering looks from people around me who wonder what the heck I'm so happy about. It's also quite serious with topics about love & like & loss & parents & the very being of friendship. And, I really have to say that for a YA book there's a lot of 'fuck' in it. I might have said fuck when I was in high school (actually 'bullshit' was my preferred worrd) but to see it in print? It makes everything fucking realistic. (All of You all do know that I use 'fuck' as an adjective, right?) Fuckin' A.

Then there's the very cool thing that Centric Lee Wind just interviewed David Levithan as part of the Trevor Project Book Club. Check that out & then go to your local bookstore or go to the library & check out Will Grayson, Will Grayson & write a book report ... ... or just a comment about it here.

It's what we're reading Wednesday. What are you reading?