Christina Hennemann: How to Make a Faggot

How to Make a Faggot¹

after Francisco Goya, ‘Witches’ Sabbath’ (1798)

Sticks can’t break
bones, unless they’re bundled,
strapped to men’s backs
to ignite a bonfire.
Before sticks burn, they blister,
like the knight’s feet
as they dragged him out the temple,
pants down, ass gaping at the coldest moon
and never to be kissed again.² I fell for flesh,
I fell for freedom. Mother. Brothers. Baphomet.
I feel the sticks leafing,
weighing on my crown.
Lips speak shame
and hands touch evil, grow
into hooves and horns.
In every faithful town, wise men gather
around the fire, sew tales
of the devil tempting the godless
in a dark forest’s barn at full moon—
a fruitless labour of love is born
from pitch-dunked nights and bindings.

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¹ Some theories state that the term “faggot”, as applied to homosexuals, is derived from the bundles of sticks, i.e. faggots, that were used to burn the heretics.
² The Knight Templars were defined as heretics by the Church, as they engaged in homosexual sex. Their initiation ceremony is well documented. It involved stripping oneself naked, kissing the high priest or leader on the mouth, anus and penis as a sign of fealty, and engaging in homosexual group sex as a symbol of brotherhood. They were theologically opposed to marriage and procreation, and taught that erotic tensions were better relieved with one’s brothers than with women.