Spoken Word Albums and Other Updates!

I apologize for my long silence, but a job was swallowing my life for a while. However, there are some exciting new updates!

  • I recently released a spoken word poetry album on Bandcamp. You can find it here: War Songs for Peace Keepers
  • I am a quarter of the way through recording another spoken word album, this one entitled Graveside Goodbyes. It should be released this month.
  • I plan to release a short album (EP) every month until at least July. They’re all written and waiting for recording and mixing.
  • I am doing a major site overhaul to make sections of the site more convenient to access. So far the Home Page and Spoken Word Poetry sections have undergone their first round of edits, so check them out and let me know what you think!
  • I’ve started singing my original poems and songs at open mics around the valley as an add-on to my poetry, so if you see an open mic listed on the calendar, you might be in for a new treat!
  • There are three more books planned for release in the upcoming months. Two are poetry and one is something entirely different. Keep your eyes on this blog for more details and some previews!

Speaking of previews, here’s a preview of the album cover for Graveside Goodbyes:

Graveside Goodbyes

James Avery Fuchs signing out!

(P.S.: I finally got my legal name change!)

The Big Bang (Poem)

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From Pyrite: Tales of Promise and Deception

In retrospect, we shouldn’t have called you our son.
The sun is a pale fire in comparison to your brilliance.
No, you are a neutron star,
densely packed dreams spinning their way to fulfillment.
I know that light gleaming brightly enough can burn,
but your flames are such a glorious way to go.

Lately, though, your glow has dimmed,
and sometimes I wonder whose light you reflect
and if there’s any of your own left.

Nowadays, you’re more of a moon,
small and wan, orbiting others,
far too afraid to be free.
But I know that someday
the universes inside your heart will burst into motion,
and as they expand,
life will once more grow behind your eyes.

You are creation
And I, simply the creator.

Ignite!

 

The Art of the Controlled Blaze (Poem)

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From Love Songs for Friends

My brother is my lifeline,
an electric current that tugs me to life.
Separated by an ocean nine time zones wide,
his voice still sounds like home.

We met the first place I’d ever felt safe:
a haven of kindness buried in the dark.
It was a forum that served as shelter
for rebels daring to seek themselves.

Even among them, he stood out.

I was a forest fire waiting to happen:
a destructive blaze of overwhelming passion.
I raced toward burn-out, fueled by emotion,
but his passion was a river that fed into an ocean.

He taught the art of the controlled blaze
and cut a clear path through brambles and haze.
When we spoke, I couldn’t believe:
wise as he was, he was only fourteen.

Now seven years later, we speak every week.
Oceans can’t stop us. He’s brother to me.
He’s changing the world one video game at a time
as I soothe souls through song and rhyme.

My brother is my lifeline,
an electric current that tugs me to life.
Separated by an ocean nine time zones wide,
his voice still sounds like home.

Fantastically Gay

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I washed away the rainbows;
wiped glitter from my eyes.
Only so much gay you can hide away,
and yesterday was pride.

Today my closet exploded,
glitter covering my floor.
Vacuums can’t cut it.
I guess I’m gay to the core.

When I look at my footprints
water rainbows in,
moonlight glittering down
and glistening on my skin.

Closets can’t hold me.
Glitterbombs light my way.
Guess I’m stuck in San Francisco,
fantastically gay.

Understanding Consent

 

With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, sometimes the memories strike with a viciousness I can only cope with through action. Today, I have made the conscious choice to direct that need for action toward education, in hopes that this step will help keep others safe and aware in ways that I was not.10629568_1531942583714194_1178316845614916559_n

What is consent?

Consent is an uncoerced, continual yes from a person in their right mind.

Let’s break this definition apart, starting with the words “an uncoerced, continual yes”.

If you ask a person and they say “no”, “I don’t know”, “maybe”, or answer with silence, none of those are a yes. If the person is asleep and ground rules have not already been established of “I am okay with you waking me up through x and y”, it is not a yes. If you then push them repeatedly for a yes, that is coercion, and even though an eventual yes may be achieved, it is still not consent. If consent requires verbal force, it is not consent.

If the person changes their mind once sex starts, even though they originally said yes, that consent is now revoked.

What about when it comes to kink? What if a participant cannot speak (in the case of a gag, etc) or you are role-playing a non-consent situation (consensual non-consent)?

This is where safe words and gestures become important, and I think having both is essential. Sometimes a safe word can be forgotten if a person becomes triggered, and thus, having a gesture available is vital. Make the word or gesture something out of character for the situation, so it is not accidentally said or made without the intent of the situation stopping, and listen to it absolutely.

Next comes “…from a person in their right mind.”

This means if the person is drunk, or high, or their family member just died, or they are leaving a funeral, or in any of a myriad of other situations where people’s judgment is impaired, consent cannot be given at that moment. It doesn’t matter if you are both drunk, or both high, etc. Unless consent was given in a time when both of you were not, and for this specific instance, not a past one, it is not consensual.

Guante says it best in “Consent at 10,000 Feet”: