There was an episode once
on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
with the actress Tisha Campbell.
The premise: they were on a date
and stuck in a basement for hours.
She stripped off her weave, fake nails,
contacts, and eyelashes. She molted.
Will, then asks, Now, what else
on your body can I get at the mall?
RuPaul says, we’re all born naked
and the rest is drag. Derrick has a list
of funny drag names and I want one.
I want to be called what I really am
or what I pretend to be, which, I guess
in a way, is me? Or someone who I think
might be beautiful enough to be approached,
discovered. Someone who doesn’t have
to pay for movers. Someone who walks
into a party and doesn’t have to be anxious
because the privilege of their beauty
makes them at rest and people find vacations
in their faces. I require something fake.
Woven and glued, stuck to my body
but not of my body. How does a body
even start?
2018
Regular
Contemporary
2022
2023
Body & Body Image
Intersectionality & Culture
Pop Culture
Womanhood
Allusion
an expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference
Anaphora
a figure of speech in which words repeat at the beginning of successive clauses, phrases, or sentences
Dialogue
conversation between two or more people as a feature of a book, play, or movie
Rhetorical Question
a question asked for effect, not necessarily to be answered