My friend who runs Bawdy Storytelling, an amazing show! http://bawdystorytelling.com/ -Dixie Latour let me know about this hilarious poll they did in China asking everyone what the most desirable and un-desirable profession was in people when it came to dating. Turns out the most un-desirable profession is Poet. HA!
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/cndy/2011-11/11/content_14075930.htm
This totally cracked me up. What up China? I mean I do get it though, when I was young and told people I wanted to be an actor, sometimes to console my mother they would tell her “at least he doesn’t want to be a poet.” Then there’s one of my favorite lines from the show Sweeney Todd
“♫ No, y’see, the trouble with poet is
‘Ow do you know it’s deceased? Try the Priest!♪“
I know a lot of folks agree with me when I say profession should not have anything to do with what makes you desirable. But there are still a ton of folks who disagree. And people wonder why they’re unhappy? I’ve actually met people that have told me that all their lives they wanted to marry an architect, HA! I’m currently partnered up with a swell fellow, some call him wonderful, named Dave. Dave happens to be a performance poet, as am I, we actually met at a Poetry Slam in D.C. almost two years ago. I’m happy with Dave because I like who he is and fell in love with him, it would not have mattered whether he was a cook or a carpenter or an engineer, or God forbid a poet.
My friends that used to say, “Oh no, he better have a career and stability if he wants to date me!” have found that “career and stability” did not guarantee that the guy was not going to be an asshole, or bland, or emotionally boring. If you open your heart, you may find the right person, and it won’t matter what they do.
I used to have a little rhyme I would jovially chant at bars amongst friends , it was a total joke, or was it? I would say
“No Actors! No Poets! No men with long hair! No one whose ever worked at the renaissance fair!” I said this for years.
When I met my now boyfriend Dave, he was a poet, sometimes actor, with long hair, who used to work at the renaissance fair, and he terrified me. I fell for him like in a moment, no, like in one car ride, it took a car ride for me to feel the sparks. I remember asking the universe to send me a sign if the sparks were true, then we were plowed almost off the road by a bus. HA! We survived the car accident and went to a bar, we had just met that day. The next day at a coffee shop Dave jokingly asked me to marry him. I told him I was going to kidnap him and bring him to San Francisco. Now we live in the Mission.
So I wish I could just tell all those folks in China to open their hearts and that if they find the right person they will be happy no matter what the profession they choose, and that they might actually be very happy if they date a Poet. But I’ve never been to China, I don’t know how things work over there. Here at home all I can say is, the famous words of Abdul Kenyatta, immensely talented poet, I’m a big fan of his, go forth and “Fuck a Poet!” If you have not heard this poem, find it online right now, it’s pretty awesome. So go forth everyone, find a poet, take them home. Fuck like crazy, you might find true love and if you don’t, at least you got laid.
