Ian Badcoe

do you have the ticket?

do  you have the ticket // do you have the passport to show // you
are what you say you are // and by  say I mean dream  // and
by dream I mean know  // do you have the ticket?

do  you have the ticket // do you have the paper // signed by a
doctor // to say you're living your best life // as if you were what
you wanted to be // what you are // are you living in fear // of
being noticed // of not being noticed // of only pretending to have
a ticket? 

have you been living as a Teletubby // do you have the form that
shows // you sleep each night in the Superdome // have spoken to
Noo-Noo today // pretended the TV painted on your t-shirt really
worked // as if pretence meant anything // are you making
progress // are you happy yet? 

do you  have  the ticket // are you allowed in here // you look like
an edge case do you have paper // to say you are as you are // as
you have always been // are you seen as what that is // if not why
not // it surely isn't difficult // to act out what you are // only
harder // so people can tell // even stupid people // who cares if
travesty-charade-lampoon-burlesque-mockery is nothing you
would dream?

do you have the photographs // of being yourself in drag //
repeated every day for years // do you have evidence of mocking
do you have the ticket // there aren’t any for that // not for you //
do you have a form permitting // filling other forms in wrong //
not as a lie // but there is no language for the truth // ha! // do
you have any tickets // any valid documents at all?

is there anything else to say // do you say you’re not what you are
// are you not what you are // have you tried getting a ticket?