A.E. Hines: “The recent domestic terrorist attack on two power substations in rural North Carolina, and its proximity to wide-spread messages of hate and intolerance surrounding a local drag performance, left thousands without power for days, and stoked fear among the local queer community—especially in the wake of the recent mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado. Of course, the show (picketed by fanatics) still went on in Southern Pines—even in the dark—as the drag artists calmly led attendees in a sing-a-long under the spotlights of their patrons’ iPhones. This reminded me of the lines by Bertolt Brecht: ‘In the dark times / will there also be singing? / Yes, there will also be singing. / About the dark times.’ And this became the spark for this poem.” (web)
