Celebrate Bisexual Poetry! Rumi's "The King and The Handmaiden and The Doctor"

Continuing our National Poetry Month Celebration...

This full poem/story by Rumi is long and wonderful with some horrible, fascinating, and mystical elements - what's cool is that the King is emotionally and lustfully enthralled by both a woman and a man during the course of the adventure. Here's some choice excerpts:

THE KING AND THE HANDMAIDEN AND THE DOCTOR

Do you know why your soul-mirror
does not reflect as clearly as it might?

Because rust has begun to cover it.
It needs to be cleaned.
Here's a story
about the inner state that's meant by soul-mirror.

In the old days there was a king
who was powerful in both his kingdoms,
the visible as well as the spiritual.

One day as he was riding on the hunt, he saw a girl
and was greatly taken with her beauty.
As was the custom,
he paid her family handsomely and asked that she come
to be a servant at the palace. He was in love with her.

The feelings trembled and flapped in his chest
like a bird newly put in a cage.

But as soon as she arrived, she fell ill.
The king was like the man who had a donkey,
but no saddle for the pack. Then he bought a saddle,
and wolves killed the donkey.
He had a waterjar,
but no water. Then he found water, but the pitcher
fell and broke.
He brought his doctors together.
"You have both our lives in your hands. Her life
is my life. Whoever heals her will receive
the finest treasure I have, the coral inlaid
with pearls, anything!"

The king's doctors fail to heal the girl, so he ran to the mosque to pray...

He cried out loud for help, and the ocean of grace
surged over him. He slept in the midst
of his weeping on the prayer rug.

In his dream an old man appeared.
"Good king,
I have news. Tomorrow a stranger will come.
I have sent him. He is a physician you can trust.
Listen to him."
As dawn came, the king was sitting up
in the belvedere on his roof. He saw someone coming,
a person like the dawn. He ran to meet this guest.

Like two swimmers who love the water, their souls knit
together without being sewn, no seam.
The king said,
"You are my beloved, not the girl! But actions
spring from actions in this reality.
What should I do?"

I won't ruin the ending for you, but the physician knows how to heal the girl, there's a secret kept from the King, and - get this - a murder...


I found this poem/story on pgs. 225-233 of "The Essential Rumi" translation by Coleman Barks with John Moyne.


Okay, YOUR turn. What are some of YOUR favorite Bisexual poems? The best way to celebrate them - is to share them!

Rumi birthday countdown 1 - Happy Birthday!

Happy Monday, everyone!

Okay, so it's 800 years and one day since the amazing mystical poet Rumi was born.

And for me it's a testament to the power of WORDS, of language, that thoughts he had so long ago can still resonate inside us Today. And not just the power of words across time, but across cultures as well!

To celebrate, here's two Bitchin' Queer Poems by the Sufi Master:

When I am with you, we stay up all night.
When you're not here, I can't go to sleep.

Praise God for these two insomnias!
And the difference between them.

pg. 106

and this:

In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.

You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you,

but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes this art.

pg. 122

both poems are from "The Essential Rumi," translations by Coleman Barks with John Moyne.

With that as inspiration for a great week,

Namaste,

Lee

Rumi birthday countdown 2

Hi Everyone!

Okay, the challenge with choosing just one poem by Rumi is that there are so many that resonate and are worthy of sharing. Hopefully, these posts will give you a taste of the great ecstatic poet, and you'll do some literary archeology on your own!

For Today's Bitchin' Queer Poem, I'm going to give you three poems of the homoerotic and fantastic ecstatic poet who wrote of passion, God, and love with such clarity and originality that his words still speak to us, nearly 800 years later!

Joseph is most beautiful when he's completely naked,
but his shirt gives you an idea,
as the body lets you glimpse the glitter
on the water of the soul.

That's a fragment of a larger poem, from pg. 94 of "The Essential Rumi" translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne.

And here's a short complete poem:

Are you jealous of the ocean's generosity?
Why would you refuse to give
this joy to anyone?

Fish don't hold the sacred liquid in cups!
They swim the huge fluid freedom.

That's from pg. 123.

Okay, just one more full poem (because I'm getting carried away, and could spend hours going through just this one book...)

If anyone asks you
how the perfect satisfaction
of all our sexual wanting
will look, lift your face
and say,
Like this.

When someone mentions the gracefulness
of the nightsky, climb up on the roof
and dance and say,
Like this?

If anyone wants to know what "spirit" is,
or what "God's fragrance" means,
lean your head toward him or her,
Keep your face there close.
Like this.

When someone quotes the old poetic image
about clouds gradually uncovering the moon,
slowly loosen knot by knot the strings
of your robe.
Like this?

If anyone wonders how Jesus raised the dead,
don't try to explain the miracle.
Kiss me on the lips.
Like this. Like this.

When someone asks what it means
to "die for love," point
here.

If someone asks how tall I am, frown
and measure with your fingers the space
between the creases on your forehead.
This tall.

The soul sometimes leaves the body, then returns.
When someone doesn't believe that,
walk back into my house.
Like this.

When lovers moan,
they're telling our story.
Like this.

I am a sky where spirits live.
Stare into this deepening blue
while the breeze says a secret.
Like this.

When someone asks what there is to do,
light the candle in his hand.
Like this.

How did Joseph's scent come to Jacob?
Huuuuu.

How did Jacob's sight return?
Huuuu.

A little wind cleans the eyes.
Like this.

When Shams comes back from Tabriz,
he'll put just his head around the edge
of the door to surprise us.
Like this.

That's from pages 135 - 137 of the same book, "The Essential Rumi" translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne.

Honestly, I find Rumi's poems amazing. I hope they resonate within you, too.

Like this.

Namaste,

Lee

This week's Bitchin' Queer Poem

I saw you last night in the gathering,
but could not take you openly in my arms,
so I put my lips next to your cheek,
pretending to talk privately.

-Rumi

For the first official "Great Queer Poem," I had to give you something by Rumi. Rumi was a poet who lived in the 1200s (Yup. September 30th will be the 800th anniversary of his birth!) in what today we call Turkey.

It amazes me how this feels fresh, real, and as if it was written TODAY. Rumi was a master of poetry, much of it ecstatic and homoerotic. (Oh, and he didn't title his poems, so I won't presume to.)

The above poem is from pg. 98 of "The Essential Rumi" translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne.