Let this medallion stand
for nothing planned
No one manned
a station at the bar
There was no plot
no forethought to resist
but a spontaneous paroxysm
a cataclysm of visibility
the street vibrating
with the punch
of NOW
and NO MORE—
Behold the kickline
of frenzied fabulousness—
Rage can look
this good honey—
The cops can’t hold the line
One day they’ll admit you’re fine . . .
Oh there was room at this Inn
for the ones who wanted to come in
and soon come out
The men are so beautiful
Ginsberg said that week
The men and the women
were thrumming
The kids with nowhere
else to go were there . . .
You can build a wall
You can fit a stone
to another stone
and make a wall
and call it normal
You can ask for hush money
You can reckon
with the patdowns and shakedowns
endure the summons and the shame
until you can’t and nobody knows
when you can’t and a wall cracks
& a strange light breaks
a bleak night open and then behold
the night after summer night simmering
with crowds glimmering
with the sheen of a new horizon—
Sometimes the arc of history
bends toward justice
with a kiss and an upraised fist
a braceleted or tattoed wrist
a ring of men and women
who suddenly and to their own surprise
won’t desist.
Let us remember this
and those who are not here
to remember and cheer
what’s been done here.
Before silence equaled death,
silence often equaled death
and so did talk or a look
or a drink or a touch. But here
at this Inn—long ago stables
in Whitman’s New York—
“City of orgies, walks and joys”—
oh he would have loved
to lock eyes with the handsome boys
“your frequent and swift flash
of eyes offering me love”
he would have laughed
at the tomfoolery and jokes
and laughs now to see how
time has run its weird bright course—
The party never ended
it just changed its historical tune
a key shift announced
so stunningly that June
1969 no justice no peace
no shame no crime
but a rioting swell
announcing a new time:
how a raid
became a seed
for queer flowering
a red rose
on a stone wall
Maureen N. McLane, who is associate professor of English and director of Undergraduate Honors for English at NYU, wrote this poem on the occasion of the placing of a Cultural Medallion at the Stonewall Inn, July 16, 2013.
