Welfare Diet
by Louie Crew

The rich taste good with pepper and salt.
Don’t waste thyme, rosemary, or sage;
cayenne’s enough. It’s not their fault
they’re bland or fat. It’s the age.
Stay their hearts with Louis Vuitton
strips; baste them with buttered blood.
Roast and serve. Soften in brine
their necks, then boil. Next flood
with garlic these briskets. Press
cloves with salvaged dentures.
Kabob their balls with mushrooms.
Eschew more exotic adventures.
The rich taste good with pepper and salt.
Don’t waste thyme, rosemary, or sage;
cayenne’s enough. It’s not their fault
they’re bland or fat. It’s the age.

As of today, editors have published 2,157 of Crew’s poems and essays. He has written four poetry volumes Sunspots (Lotus Press, Detroit, 1976) Midnight Lessons (Samisdat, 1987), Lutibelle’s Pew (Dragon Disks, 1990), and Queers! for Christ’s Sake! (Dragon Disks, 2003). You can follow his work at http://rci.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/pubs.html

Crew wrote the first openly gay materials ever published in Change Magazine, Christianity & Crisis, Chronicle of Higher Education, The Churchman, Fellowship Magazine, The Living Church, Metanoia, and Southern Exposure. He has been editor of special lgbtq issues of College English, and Margins. He serves on the editorial board of Journal of Homosexuality (1978-83; 89–).