Bear #2

I remember my sensibilities  
Beginning to oscillate between    
Cartoon and pornography    
On the bar's TV    
Occupying that cultural diversity    
Space    
Among comrades    
Yet the fact we    
Were "gelling" with the same    
Type of adult entertainment,    
As they were as      
Men    
Forging beauty    
In obtuse or insensitive    
Human frameworks    
Remaining    
Equally (mutually)    
Engorged or swollen    
At a distance    
From these impressions    
Like a torrent    
Driving through the blood vessel    
Of "our" community    
Waiting    
To be coerced      
Into some categorical (sanctioned) form    
Of art    
That was, in fact,    
Actually, worth doing…    
Thanks to the stent    
In the room    
Who helped to alleviate    
The obstruction    
For US;    
Otherwise we carried on    
With THEM    
(No thought of who was exploiting who)….    
Although looking    
Back on it; (long pause)          
Seems like    
One faction  
(Either bear or fish)    
Should have      
Came    
With engendered suspicion,    
As well as,      
Embarrassment      
From the notion    
Of enjoying sex    
In the company (fragility) of    
The “Other.”
 
(Co-signed in Chicago, L.A and NY)