Artsy Fartsy

I always tell my Milwaukee Sister how much I admire his artistic talent. He is one of the most creative people I know. I often joke that for whatever reason I didn't get any of those stereotypical artistic gay genes (dancing, drawing, singing, etc.). However, today I must make a confession. I ACTUALLY was an artistically inclined adolescent. I loved to draw and actually was half way decent at it. In the 8th grade I was picked by my art teacher to be part of the "advanced" art class. Here are three of my chalk drawing that I did when I was only 12 years old:






The picture of the girl is Laura Palmer from the early 90's cult drama series "Twin Peaks".



Ok so I will admit I was no Picasso, but you have to admit those are pretty damn good for a kid in the 8th grade! Not to mention I grew up in an impoverished ghetto where the only type of encouraged artistic expression was spray paint vandalism. Anyhoo, once in high school I lost all interest in drawing and art. Perhaps this was due to my Black Supremacist gay art teacher in the 9th grade that talked more about the oppression of his people and the evil ways of the White Devil than actually teaching art. Who knows, but years later my drawing talent had deteriorated to the point that drawing stick people was a bit of a challenge for me. Oddly enough I could recite Malcolm X's address to the Nation of Islam without thinking twice.

During my undergrad years in Milwaukee I was required to take 3 credits of art. Fortunately my university used the term "art" quite loosely and I was able to take a creative writing course. Just the other day I came across some of my old notebooks from that class and found one I had written about Madonna. Yes, I am that gay but hey, I got an "A-" for that poem and my instructor used it as part of a class poetry book that was printed and distributed on campus. So I am sharing that poem I wrote so many years ago (1999 or 2000) to celebrate Madonna's (aka M-Dolla) most recent #1 album, "Hard Candy"!


Wow, it's hard to believe that after 25 years Madonna still remains so commercially relevant and the standard by which all female pop singers are compared to. It's even more amazing to think how none of her peers from the 80's were able to maintain careers and saw their true colors fade away into obscurity with only the occasional gay pride performance.

So here is my poem to celebrate the biggest selling female pop star of all time........