On Seeing Jerry Siegel's Portrait of Brigitte Bidet, by Steve Harrison

Portrait of Brigitte Bidet, photography by Jerry Siegel (USA) 2018

On Seeing Jerry Siegel's Portrait of Brigitte Bidet
 
Three housemates in Sacramento long ago
wanted photos of themselves in drag
more than they wanted electricity. 
Their dilapidated Victorian 
stood dark and open to the heat.
When they emerged, I posed them  
against an overgrown hedge,
the tall blond in the centre, 
a voluptuous brunette on each side.
Their pearls and bracelets sparkled. 
Their ball gowns were masses of gold,
ruby, and topaz against green privet.
When they stopped fidgeting and stood up straight, 
I snapped eight shots, then packed my gear
and left for my next appointment. 
 
There is no self, say the Buddhists,
or if there is, it changes like the light
as dry wood burns, like a dancer 
who leaps and tumbles, prances, turns,
and never stops. How many versions
of ourselves can we know? 
 
When Joshua Ratcliffe becomes 
another self, she's glamorous 
in an all-out Hollywood way,
not Ingrid Bergman, more Mae West, 
Jayne Mansfield, or Madonna. 
Brigitte Bidet interviews drag stars
on YouTube. Check her out.
And in Atlanta's Starlight Cabaret
her early ballet training 
makes her a paragon of grace.
 
In Jerry Siegel's portrait, Brigitte 
is confident of her beauty. 
The edge of her wig appears
across her forehead, not as a line,
but just as a hint that another woman,
or even a man, can emerge
when he or she is needed. 
 
Siegel's portrait returns me 
to Sacramento, a summer's day
when I wanted cool San Francisco,
when colour prints were still expensive, 
and when AIDS, the internet, YouTube, 
RuPaul, and The Lady Chablis
were not yet imagined. Now Brigitte
and Joshua seem two sides 
of a single coin, and when she synchs 
Madonna's "Express Yourself," she drops 
from a spin into a deep split, 
arms raised, big smile, the crowd goes wild.
"An expression of pure queer joy," she said,
"a pulling apart of gender and class." 
 
Joshua said, "It's important to be fish."
From online queens I learned only 
that fish, alien, and bug are modes
of being drag pretty. When I asked 
my granddaughter what that meant, 
she said that women do not discuss 
that topic with their grandfathers. 
 
I know so little, but I'm all for the joy
that humans of every persuasion 
can feel when we gather to celebrate 
ourselves in all our imperfect beauty. 
 
Decades ago Pepper Labeija, 
the second mother of the House of Labeija, 
said her New York family "had a whoopsie time,
because when fairies come out to stomp,
they know no colour line." 
Joshua said, "If it doesn't have rhinestones on it,
I don't want to look at it." 
Siegel said, "I'm not making a statement. 
I'm just trying to tell a story."

Steve Harrison

After Steve Harrison retired from the software industry, he began teaching World Literature at his local community college, attending poetry workshops, and writing poetry. He lives in Auburn, Alabama.