Keith Haring
Prophet of insurgency
Painting epic canvasses
Bombing walls in hieroglyphics
A rebel amidst holocaust
Gay men and injecting addicts
Slaughtered by AIDS
Amidst willful political indifference
I came of age in the 1990s
A young queer man
Terrified of the epidemic
Terrified that sex could equal death
The fever of sexual liberation
The horror of collective devastation
A virus taking no prisoners
An epidemic of gay carnage
Tens of thousands died
But a community survived
Sustained by art and resistance
Animated by the pulse of house anthems
Haring’s piercing genius lives on
Bodies tattooed in black and red
Lurid bodies of desire
Fervent avatars of tantric fire
The disease now treatable
But uncounted thousands still die
Retroviral medication
Only available for a price
Haring’s courageous legacy
Emblazoned on sensual bodies
I see power in this history
Believing that another world is possible
Visual Art by Philip Gladstone
Inspired by Keith Haring
–BYPO PHOENIX c)2025
