Written by Julie R. Enszer. Julie, a first-time Jewrotica writer, is the author of Handmade Love (A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2010) and Sisterhood, a chapbook (Seven Kitchens Press, 2010), and editor of Milk and Honey: A Celebration of Jewish Lesbian Poetry (A Midsummer Night’s Press, 2011).
Milk and Honey was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Lesbian Poetry. Her second full-length collection of poetry, Sisterhood, will be published by Sibling Rivalry Press in late fall 2013. She has her MFA and PhD from the University of Maryland. She is a regular book reviewer for the Lambda Book Report and Calyx. You can read more of her work at www.JulieREnszer.com.
WIGGER
When I was a child, another told me
my lips were too big to be white;
she said, There is something in your past.
She was ominous; I, mystified.
They’re not white, they’re pink!
She replied, It happened all the time,
you know, though I didn’t. Other kids
are talking, but, she reassured me,
I don’t care. I was only eleven or twelve
just beginning to understand
the expressions of race.
Twenty-five years later,
my lover and I look at a photograph
of her grandmother—an African-American,
though she called herself Negro.
My wife marvels at how much
she looks like my grandmother
who has always been white.
It doesn’t unsettle me,
this racial convergence;
maybe my grandmother
was a race-traitor, too.
I lack the rhythm for hip-hop,
the soul for the blues,
the intellect for jazz. Being white,
in some circles, a cultural deficit,
so my wife generously calls me
“black by injection,” which is
impossible; we can’t transmutate
race, or even cross between
white and black, except when we do:
when we walk among different worlds,
speaking in foreign tongues
like when I bop and bounce
outside the beat,
move my body to music
with no regard for rhythm,
when I dance inappropriately.
My father tells my wife,
She’s not just white, you know.
He harkens back to the hidden
family heritage—Cherokee or Potawatomi.
My wife just nods and smiles.
She has seen my pink nipples.
She knows black when she sees it.
One of my best friends is Indian;
she made me crave the curry.
Now I’m a maven; I know all the joints
around the city. She wanted to go to
the temple in India, to fulfill a Hindu
tradition and make a sacrifice of her hair.
We read how shorn hair is sold
in the west for wigs, expensive ones,
often worn by Orthodox Jews
commanded in marriage to cover their hair.
I wonder, what circumstances
of our births would have to change
for her to be shaven in India,
for me to be wearing a wig from her hair?
If I were Orthodox, I’m sure
I’d spend most of my days
wearing a snood—tightly-knit
by my own hand. Simple.
A different religious practice
would not change my orientation.
I can see me in a snood,
except I would reject the premise
of modestly; I’d wear it only
for my own comfort, to contain
my unwashed mane, and let’s be honest:
it is not uncovered hair that
would eject me from Orthodoxy.
There is no injecting in lesbian sex;
no spontaneous or controlled eruptions
of fluid deposited near the cervix;
certainly there are fluids and yes
they erupt—the spittle that escapes
the lip during conversation, the pussy
juice that seeps onto the bed
even the ejaculate that sprays
on nipples and stomach
and pubic mons—but still I say no.
No injection, despite penetration
and the politics of intercourse
and outercourse, there is no
lesbian injection making me black.
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
Celebrating 10 Years & Marking the End of An Amazing Project
Bedside Reading with Jewrotica was funny, sexy, and hot all at once. The readings were honest about all kinds of sexuality, but the highlight of the evening was definitely the confessions, written by audience participants. Nobody knew who wrote them, and most were tell-alls that would make your bubbe blush. Unless your bubbe was very, very cool. Then maybe she’d make YOU blush!
Jewrotica rocks. It’s funny, it’s informative, it’s sexy, it’s interesting. Check it out!
I stepped out of my comfort zone to be a part of this. I was glad to open up the topic of sexuality in my community. We are trying to build a safe space to talk about sex. The result I am most happy about coming from this event is that hopefully now my friends know they can come and talk to me, that I can be their ‘safe space’.
The people behind Jewrotica are quite quality! I have confidence that any project these folks take on will be equally quality.
Jewrotica is something that the community has needed for a long time so that people can actually learn, express and share and have good relationships without having to stumble through life. Check out the site and learn something. Have fun!
You may not tell your mom that you’re going to a live Jewrotica reading (or whatever clever name you will dub these events) but you will tell your friends. However, both would be jealous if they find out that they missed it. I think it will only be a matter of time before Jewrotica helps us reclaim the term “Dirty Jew” the way rap music has done for “The ‘N’ Word.” I know I am now proud to be a Dirty Jew!
Jewrotica is inspiring Jews and erotica with holiness and coolness, and is the pride of progressive Judaism. Jewrotica – awesome!
What an incredible night Jewrotica was!!!! There was this fantastic moment, in a sea of Jews of all sexualities, ages, backgrounds and denominations, that I realized we were all in this together! I hope that there are many more events coming to Austin soon!
I had a great time deejaying at the Jewrotica event at Columbia University. The live readings were hilarious, informative, and in some cases, deeply moving. I know that I, along with many of my AEPi fraternity brothers, loved being able to connect our Judaism and our sexuality in a way that made all of us feel comfortable and welcome. I look forward to being a part of this again in the future!
Learning about sex and what’s right and wrong when it comes to sex from a Biblical standpoint was an eye opening experience. I completely enjoyed it and think something like this could be a very cool thing to bring to even high school aged Jewish youth groups.
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