Simply Roger (interview with David Trinidad pt. 2)

Tantalize, Memory: Our kiki with David Trinidad continues!

Buy David's new book, Digging to Wonderland, at your favorite indie bookstore -- or buy it here from Loyalty Books, a Black-owned independent bookseller in Washington, DC.

Gypsy Rose Lee (born Rose Louise Hovick, January 8, 1911 – April 26, 1970) was an American burlesque entertainer famous for her striptease act whose memory was adapted into the 1959 stage musical Gypsy. You can watch here some footage of her performing an abbreviated (and very clean) version of her famous routine, "The Psychology of a Stripteaser" in the 1943 film Stage Door Canteen (~5 min).

John Yau's new book, Joe Brainard: The Art of the Personal, will be released September 2022 from  Rizzoli International Publications. For more about Brainard, visit the website dedicated to his work here. A great retrospect about Joe Brainard appeared in Artforum. 

Larry Rivers has a great portrait of Frank O'Hara here.

According to this website Roger (1954 - 1982) was an American gay porn star who appeared in pornographic movies in the 1970s. After an early career as a model and go-go boy from age 17, he appeared as a "Discovery" centerfold in "Blueboy" magazine, Roger appeared in many film loops of the pre-condom era, co-starring with other notable porn stars of the time, including Al Parker, Jack Wrangler, Chuck Samson, and Bruno. Roger was also a popular stage performer in gay nightclubs and theaters. Roger left the adult film industry in 1980 and in 1982, en route to Las Vegas, perished in a car accident. In 2000, an imposter posing as Roger appeared on a number of Yahoo! groups, but was soon exposed as a fraud. He told stories of having attended Al Parker's memorial service in 1992, remaining in touch with co-star Jack Wrangler, and maintaining a monogamous relationship since the late 1980s while living in a suburb of Chicago. All of this information was completely false.

Hear David read his poem "Ode to Dick Fisk" here  (at Naropa).

Read more about Elaine Equi here.

Watch Rachel Blau DuPlessis talk about the "exuberant sexual and lexical energy and gay will to power" of Frank O'Hara's Second Avenue here (~6 min)

Sei Shōnagon (清少納言, c. 966–1017 or 1025) was a Japanese author, poet, and a court lady who served the Empress Teishi (Sadako) around the year 1000 during the middle Heian period. She is the author of The Pillow Book (枕草子, makura no sōshi).

Want to read more about Sexton, faith, and love? Your wait is over.

Read Sylvia Plath's poem "Edge" here.

If you want to know what Hart Crane looks like, click here.