Reagan Smiles from the TV

Large mixed media piece by me called OUT (of the box) capturing the spirit of being gay in the 1980’s in the midwest.

Reagan Smiles from the TV

Reagan smiles from the TV,
all polished teeth and morning light.
They call it “morning in America,”
but in our apartments
the curtains are drawn,
phones ring with news of another friend gone.

It’s midnight in my mouth—
the kind of dark that tastes of fear,
of hospital disinfectant,
of priests who refuse last rites
because they say God has turned His back.

We slip into basements,
into bars with no names,
where the jukebox is the only preacher
and Donna Summer is communion.
We hold each other too close,
not because of lust—
but because touch
is the only proof we’re still here.

Reagan smiles from the TV.
The world claps along.
But our rainbow is painted underground,
in sweat, in laughter,
in the stubborn pulse of bodies
that refuse to disappear.