Bring Them Back!

By Lisa King

i want to wash myself clean in the blood of saints
the unknown martyrs
the innocent young
i want to swim in their blood and piss
to show them that i am not afraid
of the bodily fluids
that have become the poison of my generation

i would roll in semen of a thousand dead brothers
i will tongue kiss a million prostitutes
drawing the last drop of saliva from behind rotting teeth
i will suck the blood out of the syringes of every dusty junkie
i would stitch my skin onto all the quilts
that stretch from here to washington d.c.

just to hear sylvester sing again
to see a new mapplethorpe photo
to watch arthur ashe march in the streets
with haitian refugees
to know steven lawrence's laugh
as we lift a six-pack from a party

to bring back rock hudson
so he can piss on ronald reagan
and make that motherfucker remember
that he is personally responsible
for the deaths of tens of thousands

to bring back liberace
so he can shove a crystal candelabrum up george bush's ass
until that bastard screams
i'm racist and homophobic
and that's why i did nothing about AIDS

i would do all this and more
just to slam the door on this insidious disease
so i can stop
watching my friends die
so bigots disguised as religious leaders will stop
claiming to know the truth about AIDS

the truth about AIDS is
if jesus were here today his blood would be tainted
and you would call him
unclean
jerry falwell
you would call him
enemy
pat robertson
you would both try to raise money
to buy the nails