Big city, wrong choices/We had one thing going on/I swear that it was something/’Cause I don’t remember who I was before you/Painted all my nights/A color I’ve searched for since/But one thing after another/Lost in situations, circumstances/Miscommunications…/…Did you leave her house in the middle of the night?/Did you wish you’d put up more of a fight?/When she said it was too much?/Do you wish you could still touch …her?/Half-moon eyes, bad surprise/Did you realize, out of time/She was on your mind/With some dickhead guy/That you saw that night/But you were on something/It was one drink after another/Caught in politics and gender-roles/And you’re not sure and I don’t know/Got swept away in the gray/I just may like to have a conversation…/…Does it feel like everything’s just like second-best after that/Meteor strike?/And what’s that, that I heard, that you’re still with her/That’s nice, I’m sure that’s what’s suitable/And right
Draw the cat eye, sharp enough to kill a man/You did some bad things, but I’m the worst of them/Sometimes I wonder which one will be your last lie…/…I don’t dress for women/I don’t dress for men…/…Ladies always rise above/Ladies know what people want/Someone sweet and kind and fun/The lady simply had enough
…Laughing with my feet in your lap/Like you were my closest friend/”How’d we end up on the floor anyway?” You say/”Your roommate’s cheap-ass screw-top rosé, that’s how”…/…And how the blood rushed into my cheeks, so scarlet, it was…/…The lips I used to call home, so scarlet, it was maroon…/…Sobbin’ with your head in your hands
I’m about to finish up the evermore album for my series Taylor Swift’s Gay Moments. Followed by Midnights Gay Moments. The last song is Ivy.
You might be wondering how Taylor Swift’s Ivy relates to Gnosticism relates to queerness. In my main post I’ll show the many connections between Ivy’s lyrics and Gnostic tennants.
Here, I’ll try to convey how Gnosticism, at the very least, can be interpreted through a queer lens.
Gnosticism through a queer lens [III]
-Sophia begets the demiurge who creates the world & humanity
-Sophia tricks Yaldabaoth into passing wisdom to Adam
-Wisdom is Eve and she wakes Adam from his stupor
-Balancing the masculine and feminine within ourselves is required for divine illumination
-Gnostics reject binary, black & white thinking and encourage questioning authority and the status-quo
-The Gnostics gave women a place, where they were sidelined by the orthodoxy
Sophia gives birth to a bunch of bad boys, demigods called archons, including the worst of them all, the demiurge who becomes the creator of this world, infecting it with pride, ignorance, fear, and his lust for power and pleasure.
Finally, Sophia breaks free and ascends back up to the true light of life. Back up in the celestial realm of spiritual light, Sophia rediscovers Gnosis by joining her twin brother in a “marriage” of reunification, balancing the masculine ego of unrealized potential, and uniting it with the sacred feminine – made ever more powerful by adversity – into an androgynous whole. A complete person, full with the knowledge of the transcendent, unified light.
But she refuses to abandon the sad world of humans. She remains present, and in her resurgent power she brings great beauty and spiritual potential to the Earthly realm and its inhabitants.
Witnessing the irresponsible creation of the world by her errant offspring, she divides herself, keeping a part below, ever present and available for the enlightenment of all. Sophia conceals Consciousness in the body of the demiurge’s first man, “Adam,” and then brings it into the world as “Eve.”
For it’s only in the feminine–the channel of creation into the world–that humanity finds the power and compassion necessary to overcome the darkness of ignorance.
I notice everything you do or don’t do/You’re so much older and wiser, and I…/…If it’s all in my head, tell me now/Tell me I’ve got it wrong somehow/I know my love should be celebrated/But you tolerate it…/…Where’s that man who’d throw blankets over my barbed wire?/I made you my temple, my mural, my sky/Now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life/Drawing hearts in the byline/Always taking up too much space or time/You assume I’m fine, but what would you do if I/I break free and leave us in ruins?/Took this dagger in me and removed it?/Gain the weight of you then lose it
[I didn’t cite this bc it’s some homophobic church doubling-down on their intolerance, and though I think they have a point about the definition of terms, I didn’t want to give them any more traffic].
And there was one prize I’d cheat to win/The more that you say/The less I know/Wherever you stray/I follow/I’m begging for you to take my hand/Wreck my plans/That’s my man/You know that my train could take you home/Anywhere else is hollow…/…Wait for the signal and I’ll meet you after dark/Show me the places where the others gave you scars/Now this is an open-shut case/Guess I should’ve known from the look on your face/Every bait and switch was a work of art
I’m writing this under the assumption you’ve researched the origins of Pride, and have also seen a current day Pride. If you haven’t, you have homework before reading this.
2023 brings many far-right political attacks targeting Pride Parades (and a litany of other anti-LGBTQ issues).
Combine that with the Rainbow Capitalism and corporatization of Pride that the community is wary of.
This presents us a perfect opportunity: This year Pride should forgo the rainbows, flags, and money-spending. Do something really radical- This year Pride is all black and white. It would be a stark contrast to the rainbow events of late. We treat Pride as more of a remembrance and protest. No random corporate parade entries or merch. Everyone in the Pride Parade is there representing their LGBTQQA organization, or showing up as evidence of their existence, since the community is still largely invisible to straights. The LGBTQQAA community still appears in droves and gets a day to be with like-minded people, is visible to larger society. But we show them Pride is for a purpose not just a party or spending.
Instead of the gold hotpants, the gay boys just toe the line and go black/white bicycle shorts. The drag queens still make an appearance, but in only black and/or white. PFLAG, the bears, leather daddies, dykes on bikes–all there. Everyone in black and white. Somber in our demands for equal treatment. Nobody gets arrested, but make their point anyway. We don’t need an ostentatious party (every year) to demand rights and provide representation. We show the straights, it’s not all fun and games we are the same people we have always been even when the rainbows are turned to mournful attire. It’s not giving up and adhering to social norms–it’s proving that we’re celebrating Pride for a reason.
It would be impactful to do an all black & white Pride for one year. Like talking softly in a screaming match, it would garner attention and show that we exist, we want equal rights, and we mean business–whatever color we’re wearing.
Take me to the lakes where all the poets went to die…/…I don’t belong, and my beloved, neither do you…/…Those Windermere peaks look like a perfect place to cry…/…I’m setting off, but not without my muse…/…I want auroras and sad prose…/…I want to watch wisteria grow right over my bare feet/‘Cause I haven’t moved in years
Make sure nobody sees you leave…/…You’ll be flushed when you return/Take the road less traveled by/Tell yourself you can always stop…/…And that’s the thing about illicit affairs/And clandestine meetings and longing stares/It’s born from just one single glance/But it dies, and it dies, and it dies/A million little times/Leave the perfume on the shelf/That you picked out just for him/So you leave no trace behind/Like you don’t even exist…/…A drug that only worked/The first few hundred times…/…And clandestine meetings and stolen stares/They show their truth one single time/But they lie, and they lie, and they lie/A million little times…/…Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me/You showed me colors/You know I can’t see with anyone else…/…You taught me a secret language/I can’t speak with anyone else/And you know damn well/For you, I would ruin myself/A million little times
And the town said, “How did a middle-class divorcée do it?”/…Their parties were tasteful, if a little loud/The doctor had told him to settle down/It must have been her fault his heart gave out…/…”Who knows if she never showed up, what could’ve been”/”There goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen”/”She had a marvelous time ruinin’ everything”…/…Rebekah gave up on the Rhode Island set, forever/Flew in all her Bitch Pack friends from the city/Filled the pool with champagne and swam with the big names/And blew through the money on the boys and the ballet/And losin’ on card game bets with Dalí…/…And in a feud with her neighbor/She stole his dog and dyed it key lime green…/…Free of women with madness, their men and bad habits/And then it was bought by me/Who knows if I never showed up what could’ve been/There goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen/I had a marvelous time ruinin’ everything
kit10phish.wordpress.com 
Taylor Swift’s Gay Moments: evermore ~ tolerate it
16 Aprtolerate it
I notice everything you do or don’t do/You’re so much older and wiser, and I…/…If it’s all in my head, tell me now/Tell me I’ve got it wrong somehow/I know my love should be celebrated/But you tolerate it…/…Where’s that man who’d throw blankets over my barbed wire?/I made you my temple, my mural, my sky/Now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life/Drawing hearts in the byline/Always taking up too much space or time/You assume I’m fine, but what would you do if I/I break free and leave us in ruins?/Took this dagger in me and removed it?/Gain the weight of you then lose it
[I didn’t cite this bc it’s some homophobic church doubling-down on their intolerance, and though I think they have a point about the definition of terms, I didn’t want to give them any more traffic].
***Trigger Warning***
hate crime
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard
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