WC78 – Updrafts by Dan Vera

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Updrafts
Edited by Dan Vera

I think that the majority of the gay press is quite bad and misleading to the intellectual and physical health of homosexuals. It betrays the historical legacy of brilliance that once existed in the gay world, of being the true guardians and keepers of intellectual and artistic brilliance. Gay people have upheld high art for years. Now, in the gay male press, there's nowhere for the opera queens, there's nowhere for the faggy snobs. It's all about youth and body image. It's very light reading, you know?  And on the physical health side, there's a total glorification and acceptance of extreme drug use and sexual license. I don't want to seem like a prudish person–I believe that what happens in a person's bedroom is private–but I do believe that the press have to get a little more proactive about the health of our community.   ~ Rufus Wainwright

When a flower blooms and then dies, we do not call that flower a failure.  And flowers don’t so much die as go to seed.  We all carry the seeds of our experience in our hearts, and we plant these wherever we go.  ~ Carolyn Shaffer

The warm bodies
shine together
 ~ Allen Ginsberg

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.   ~Antoine de Saint Exupery

We must get back into relation, vivid and nourishing relation to the cosmos. The way is through daily ritual and the reawakening. We must once more practice the ritual of dawn and noon and sunset, the ritual of kindling fire and pouring water, the ritual of the first breath, and the last.    ~ D.H. Lawrence

I think now especially we’re misled so often.  We have our eye on the horizon looking for a genius of some sort to save us.  There is no genius coming.  The genius is already here.  It’s in the community.  And our difficulty seems to be that sometimes we confuse the manifestation of genius in an individual with the notion that that’s where it resides.  But it doesn’t reside in an individual.  Its in the community of people.  ~ Barry Lopez

He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sunrise.
  ~ William Blake

Don't listen to those who say, “It's not done that way.” Maybe it’s not, but maybe you will. Don't listen to those who say, “You're taking too big a chance.” Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor, and it would surely be rubbed out by today. Most importantly, don't listen when the little voice of fear inside of you rears its ugly head and says, “They're all smarter than you out there. They're more talented, they're taller, blonder, prettier, luckier and have connections…” I firmly believe that if you follow a path that interests you, not to the exclusion of love, sensitivity, and cooperation with others, but with the strength of conviction that you can move others by your own efforts, and do not make success or failure the criteria by which you live, the chances are you'll be a person worthy of your own respect.   ~ Neil Simon

We all belong to the “community of life."   ~ Daniel Quinn 

This is just an excerpt from this issue of White Crane.   We are a reader-supported journaland need you to subscribe to keep this conversation going.  So to read more from this wonderful issue SUBSCRIBE to White Crane. Thanks!

Dan Vera is the White Crane's managing editor.  He is also the author of the recently released book of poetry, The Space Between Our Danger and Delight (Beothuk Books).  He lives in Washington DC.  For more on Dan visit www.danvera.com

Updrafts is a regular feature of  White Crane.  If you have a little bit  of wisdom to share with us, send it to us at dan@gaywisdom.org

One thought on “WC78 – Updrafts by Dan Vera”

  1. Hello, there,

    aspectimago here, and i will try not to stay mysterious
    by telling you I am a gay male 46 yrs old, in NYC up nights
    like to write, with my pug who dictates very well when he’s
    not ill, now snoring up a lovely storm of post-earache
    brand of sleep, makes me fortified knowing he’s finally
    not suffering and promises to let me know sooner next time
    this time comes round….

    now round to you, Mr. Vera, just
    wanted to wish you good luck with your new book, I will
    proceed to where i need to go above to check it out….
    your radiance shows in pics; here, i am a complete
    stranger but drawn to the brotherhood of gay writers, fellow
    wanderers, poets of the gay spirit–which by the way,
    in case no one has told you, can be spotted in all
    photos Dan–coming out, way, way past pres. (press!)
    present (3 cycles, good number wish, not witch) into future:

    speak your poetry, keep the belt on the parkway,
    and dactyl the hell right out of it! Now,besides
    this poet’s pug, critic’s pen, a pun also rises!

    Good luck to ya, Dan Vera

    aspectimago

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