Even Zen Drag Queens Get the Blues
Hello Pumpkins,
I wanted to write you a note and let you know that even zen drag queens get the blues. I know sometimes if you read a lot that it sounds like the practice of zen can mellow you out and make you simply delicious to be around at all times, but it’s just not the way it is. I think it’s important to see the dirty side of Dharma just like Zenfant does here on this blog.
Zen can empty out your teacup just fine but, honey, that means some days it’s gonna fill up with shit.
Today is DEFCON 1 for me. In case you don’t know what that is, I’ll explain: Dharmic & Equanimity Failure Coming On Now.
Case in point, we are in the middle of a weeklong retreat here at Dharma Diva Monastery and I have found myself simply done with bitchy queens. That’s right, I am done with it for the moment. I have left my right hand woman, Juwana Nirvana, in charge for a while. Let me tell you when Miss Queer Divine Dissatisfaction gets her last gay nerve worked down to a nub, it’s time to for her to go do the ritual of last resort so nobody gets hurt. So you guessed it, I’m eating at Ramone’s Mexican Restaurant in lovely Pagosa Springs, Colorado.
Don’t nothin’ relieve stress like a steaming pile of enchiladas.
The last straw was our Chinese exchange student, Sindy Lu Hu complaining for the 15th time about how her legs hurt during meditation. Well there’s gonna be some pain when you sit with your stilettos on, damn it. We sit with the pain and if you pansy ass queens can’t get that thru your wigs, you’ll never get enlightened.
So I’m sitting here penning you this letter with my usual eye liner and parchment…I may be pissed, but I don’t have to give up my panache. Dora Jean Trujillo just took my order…took three tries to get it right…says she just got back from giving platelets over at the clinic. Platelets? What the fuck are platelets? Is that something munchkins eat off of? I don’t care about your platelets, bring me my enchiladas. “Dora Jean,” I said, “get me my food now. I am thru with this day. THA-REW”. I am so done it took two syllables to get the idea across.
Yes I would like to shank someone and I do have one built into my left stiletto. That’s why they tell you don’t make a drag queen take of her shoes…she’s probably about to cut you. My food is here, let me pick this letter up after I eat otherwise it might get stained with Dora Jean’s blood.
Ok, so I’m much better now. Like I said, sometimes an empty teacup can get filled with shit and you have to deal with it as it is, but it is ok to eat your way to some equanimity first if you need to.
So I’m headed back now to kick some ass and take some names and whip these bitches into shape. I think I’m gonna find me one of those big sticks like Jomon uses on her people when they get out of line. I may even tell them that Jody’s depilatory method is a necessary but very secret zen ritual they have to master before they can leave.
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. … No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others -Martha Graham
