 I Be your shelter I be your I be your everything I be your friend. I be your water You're thirsty and dry. I woke up more crowded sick place Surrounded by evil Protected by grace There were these arms Hundreds are reaching for They knew exactly Who and what I should be each way whisper keep inside of me I'm safe keeping me stead in 1984. I Was 21 years old Realized discovered Made friends with the fact that I was a lesbian. Well, lesbian was way too big a word Too big too scary a word I was gay Small I could hold it in my hands gay and You know family I felt so isolated in Brooklyn at that time no one in my family no one in my community was gay my holy roller Baptist Folk, you know, I wasn't allowed to wear pants. So I definitely wasn't allowed To be gay and so I was hungry and I went searching and I found poets and I found poetry and I found Music and I found Castleberry and the pre and sweet honey and the rock and So she regained and I did find my way to a bar called deja vu and in New York City, I Was terrified That was very short-lived but so the poetry of Pat Parker and jewel Gomez and Cheryl Clark and Donna Allegra and Michelle Parkinson and Sherry Malaga Like these folk they were my community and And I'm so grateful. I'm so so grateful and go into poetry readings and You know following jewel Gomez wherever she was Sherry clock and of course I fell in love with each one of them. I mean, you know, come on Yes Yes And I'm so and so I'm honored to be here. I'm grateful that Ellen asked me To be here and the piece that I chose to read is I have I have known many women and The you of you puzzles me It is not beauty. I have known beautiful women It is not brains. I have known intelligent women It is not goodness I Have known good women. It is not selflessness. I have known giving women yet You touch me in new different ways I Become sand on a beach Washed anew with each wave of you with each touch of you. I am fresh bread warm and rising I Become a newborn kitten Ready to be licked and nuzzled into life You are my first love You are my last love You make me a virgin And I want to give myself to you Thank you Gina Brillo