Poet Richard Blanco returned to Boston Public Radio on Monday, where he spoke in detail about his latest endeavor for the folks at the Boston Beer Company.
His poem is titled “Let There Be Pride,” and was commissioned as part of Sam Adams' “Love Conquers All” ad campaign for Pride Month.
“Advertising is changing a lot,” Blanco said. “The hard sell of... you know, ‘no credit, good credit, come on down and buy this car!’ That kind of advertising doesn’t work with Millennials, and so commercials are becoming more artful, more informed.
“Anywhere I can infuse poetry in some way, and let people be less afraid of poetry, the better,” he joked.
The inaugural poet added that there was a degree of significance in working with a beer brand, as bars have historically been a safe haven for the LGBTQ community.
“It was kind of like a place where we were socialized, we got to learn the ropes,” said Blanco, who himself identifies as gay.
"I think the people behind this project were really amazing and well-intentioned,” he said, when asked about his choice to align himself with the brand. "And hey, if we can move the needle, even with [a company] that may not [have] the cleanest slate, you’re still doing something."
At the interview’s close, Blanco joked that he’d be editing the final poem before sending it over to Boston Public Radio to publish. "I’m gonna tweak that last line, and I’ll send you a revised copy– I don’t know about that ‘cheers’ anymore!"
You can enjoy the unabridged version of “Let There Be Pride” below:
Let There Be Pride
To remember every stone thrown by our mother-fathers at Stonewall, to keep applauding their kick
lines that fired-up our fight for freedom, to hear their voices still singing against the nightsticks
of hate. Let there be Pride.
To unfold our AIDS quilts again over the lawn of our memory, to read aloud the names of our lost
souls still stitched in our souls, to wrap ourselves in the colors of their lives that still color
ours, to give thanks for their fight that let us survive to remember them. Let there be Pride.
To keep loving the queer child in all of us who grew up like me, terrified of our own beautiful
selves, knowing home was a place we had yet to find, to keep the faith we found on that long
journey we took toward that somewhere over the rainbow. Let there be Pride.
To never let Matthew Shepard die again, to raise-up every teenager high on our shoulders and
let them see the parades of their kind celebrating their worthy lives, nevermore to be taken
by others or by themselves. Let there be Pride.
To kiss again our first kiss against lips the same as ours exploding like a star in us, to walk again
hand-in hand with our first loves the first time we dared to strut our tenderness down
sidewalks, to never again be the shamed selves we let die to reborn unashamed as a full
moon. Let there be Pride.
To keep silencing the words that keep trying to silence us, to keep renaming ourselves as
she/he/them, to keep spreading our language of love is love, and always will be love, to keep
our right at the altar to say: I do, I do, I do. Let there be Pride.
To praise our hands brushing away life’s dark anguish onto brilliant canvases, to laud our ears
listening to strangers’ sorrows in the mirror until they see their truth in ours, to revere our
minds thinking from our hearts, to forgive the unforgivable in ourselves and others. Let there
be Pride.
To go on flaunting our fierce feather boas and strapping on our butch toolbelts, slip on our Marie
Antoinette wigs and paint our leather pants on, to dust gold glitter over our breasts and
beards, to keep our confetti guns firing. Let there be Pride.
To keep alive the selves we lost at Pulse still pulsing through us, to never stop dancing with their
souls to the soul of our songs’ proverbs: I am what I am…I’m coming out…I will survive…we
got nothing to be guilty of…constant craving…voulez-vous coucher avec moi…R-E-S-P-E-C-
T…we are family…we are the champions…we'll keep on fighting 'til the end. Let there be
music. Let there be lights. Let there be us. Let there be Pride. Cheers-Amen!
Richard Blanco is the fifth presidential inaugural poet in U.S. history. His new book, "How To Love A Country," deals with sociopolitical issues that shadow America.
