04 December 2009

Globalizing and Queering done in Concert

I will soon post a paper that I'm writing on globalization and queerness. I hope to explore the problems and features of cultural hegemony of (Western) LGBT identities over the indigenous gender/sexual constructs/culture in the (an?) "Asian" experience. For now, though, it is very important that we seek to understand this poem by Filipino-American poet R. Zamora Linmark. In doing so, perhaps we can understand more about ourselves.
They like you because you eat dog, goat and pig's blood . . .
They like you because you kneel hard, bend over quick and spread wide . . .
They like you because you're a potato queen . . .
They like you because you take it in, all the way down
They like you because you ask for it, adore it
They like you because you're a copycat, want to be just like them
They like you because, give it a couple more years, you'll be just like them
And when that time comes, will they like you more?
Perhaps this doesn't have the same impact if you're not in the same headspace as I am, but it's causing me profound angst and introspection...

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks for sharing that poem. I can totally relate. I'll have to look into more of the poet's other works. By the way, I think there's a typo: "big's blood" instead of "pig's blood".

Josh said...

Thanks, Mark. Glad you like it. Typo fixxed.