Goddess bless America. I believe in Jesus, amen. The Buddha, too, and Shiva, and all the Druid gods and Nordic gods and Aztec gods . . . damn if they aren't interesting! They provide the grist for countless morality tales. Hell, if it weren't for the gods, we'd have no morality at all, which would be like giving carte blanche for a big, bloated, speed-fueled, oil soaked, narcissistic, greedy, materialistic, sexually obsessed, warlike culture. Thank goddess we don't have that! Blessed be and pass the morality. But whose morality? Certainly not their morality. Ours. Oh, how can it be, to have different moralities side by side, coexisting peacefully? Look at Northern Ireland. Look at Israel/Palestine. Look at all the unsolvable dualistic conflicts all over the globe. Woe over morality is a way of life. It's a human thing. You may say we battle over resources, but morals covers it all. How we use resources is a morals issue. Clearly the only way to solve issues over morals is – to go to war? That's the devil's way of thinking. More angelic is to hold out the olive branch, but for some reason the olive branches in our leaders' hands have turned into bayonets. Perhaps the leaders have forgotten the ultimate goal. Love your brother. Love everyone unconditionally. The goal is peace. It's not just for wimps anymore.
Happily, I found peace, joy, and love in abundance last Friday night in the Castro when some faerie friends and I dropped in at Magnet for the opening of an exhibit by the wonderfully talkative, passionately gesticulating poet/artist Jokie X Wilson. He's part of the local color, long in the scene, but he's perhaps best known and appreciated for the times he organized Faerie Village at the annual Pride Celebration in Civic Center, when the Village boasted a great performance stage and fabulous artist exhibits.
I adore Jokie's paintings, and appreciating them is bound inextricably with knowing Jokie. To me his piled-on, thickly layered pigments — sometimes oil paintings that have taken many years to "dry", sometimes acrylics embedded with subway tokens and the like —  serve as exclamation marks to his highly voluble nature.
At the opening, just after 8 p.m., Magnet Director Steve Gibson introduced the artist, and Jokie said he was glad to have his first solo show "at a place within my community that has the potential to benefit the community." One piece in the exhibit is designated as a silent auction item to benefit Magnet. The other pieces Jokie will split 50/50 with Magnet on sales.
Jokie then read his poem, "The Rabbit and the Rat", which concluded with the optimistic stanza: "There is no more fear/ There is no more horror/ Only the two of us/ Floating through God's great universe/ Past the end of time to eternity." It's a good summation of what Jokie seems to be all about. He's been an apostle for love, truth, beauty, art and faerie sensibilities for as long as I've known him. He'll talk your ear off, but unlike other compulsive speakers, he actually has a lot to say, and articulates well. His artwork is part of the colorful spectrum our town. I believe he's quite divine.
For more information, visit the Magnet website (www.magnetsf.org) or email Jokie X Wilson at [email protected]
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