& then gay marriage was legal in Oklahoma
& it was renamed “Oklahomo”
& cowboys went broke back
& farm girl lay with farm girl
& all the cows turned gay too so they weren’t feeling left out
& their milk was sugary post-Fruity Pebbles breakfast flavored
& wheat fields bloomed with glitter
& oil drills yielded expensive and internationally prized body creams
& pride parade gypsy caravan’d across the prairies
& pies were made with the finest organic apples found at that great farmer’s market last Sunday
& sassy hairdressers used gels and scissors as weapons of rebellion
& McMansion homes were interior designed to the brink of death
& the American flag turned painted shades of vermillion, eggshell and cerulean
& this condomed country shed its rubbery hate
& the world became faggy
& men in Africa were no longer afraid to love
& their bodies ran hot
& hands sheathed other hands in the streets
& the Nile flowed pink with froth
& straight nightclubs power-blasted songs by Erasure
& Donna Summers
& Freddie Mercury
& rich suburban housewives eloped with their Latina housekeepers
& the husbands got with the Brazilian pool boys
& wrestlers wore lipstick to accentuate their rock hard glistening pecs
& fat plumbers covered their cracks with exquisite Balenciaga gowns
& soldiers deeply frenched across battle lines
& dictators ended wars with tongues shoved down each other’s throats
& we tiptoed through the tulips, singing our gay little songs
& Earth felt awe with rainbows again
& we all skipped like fairies, dancing prancing away from yesterday
& into the great wide arms of the fabulous drag queen we call tomorrow.
& not a single person would ever go back.
Originally published in This Land, Vol. 6, Issue 3, February 1, 2015.