My brain clips along at breakneck speed when I feel a pain I call ‘Stinghurt’..
Too fast to make the switchback toward trust
And so, hurls past all the most deliciously
Creative adjectives and selections of succinctly vibrant adverbs to
Blurt out the first sing song rhythmic childhood taunt
From the deep cleft between the fork of my toungue
Toward no innocent bystander, far worse
The target run through with every spike, barbed horn, in my arsenal.
My bullseye? Accross her heart, invisibly cup- cradles
Her rack which houses the heart that owns my own.
On Twitter, 6/12/15
Many who know me know that I have been a sex worker since 1998 when I branched away from a job as a nanny to become an escort full time.
My endeavors in sex work paid off in a myriad of ways-
The wages were more than I could ever have earned had I used my 4 year degrees prescribed path. And I utilized them to live the lifestyle I wished for.
I took good care of myself and of others in my life when they needed it. My sexwork wages allowed me to travel to support my terminally ill mother,
to donate to charity and causes I found worthy. They also allowed my pursuits in the arts-with then I produced plays and supported local theatre productions.
Years passed. happy and productive years.
I was not hurt by anyone in the industry- I was never trafficked, never threatened, never injured or raped, never arrested and not harassed in relation to my work.
My earnings increased yearly until eventually I was able to pay my bills while affording the fullfillment of one of my personal dreams.
I was able to take a month long solo motorcycle road trip of 5000 miles accross the country. The journey felt epic and life changing
and then It did change my life in epic ways. I had a major accident about 400 miles from home.
The injuries I sustained were not a few- I broke 11 ribs, sprained my pelvis, deflated a lung, ruptured my spleen, lost an ear and sustained atraumatic brain injury.
I was comotose for 16days and I woke up to a world I didnt recognise.I also woke up to my sex work peers- While Id been in my coma- the sex work
community had taken action on my behalf, they came together and raised thousands of dollars toward my needs and the expenses of those supporting me.
Many flew to Idaho, where I was hospitalized to see and hold space for me while I lay unconscious and recovering. They were at my bedside when I finally woke up-
They took on the task of transporting me home when the hospital released me to further care here in Seattle.Once here-
I was required to enter into a care facility for head injuries and like conditions. The place was grim- to put it lightly- yet every day I had reprieve
in the form of one of my peers visiting during visiting hours, and that would keep me going until the next day. Over a course of months, sex workers continued to visit and suport me both in and out of multiple hospitals.
Sex workers unsertook the hurculean task of helping me recover while maintaining my basic life functions like showering and
feeding myself. one in particular insited I live with them and tended to my daily domestic needs while also undertaking the paperwork and organizational tasks that come with major injury treatment.
My recovery required out patient treatment for more than a year with drs APPOINTMENTS 4times a week at least.
Its been sex workers that transported me to these appointments.
During all this time I had no income whatsoever, and yet I wanted for nothing- not for food or shelter- or even pocket money-
My peers have provided all I needed and more.
I have no close family- and I had little savings at the time of my accident and still I
have all the support and assistance Ive needed- because of sexworkers. Without then Im sure I wouldnt be alive today.part of our theme tonightis ‘community’- I am a womqan with a strong active loving commu ity.my community is the sexwork community
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