This work is to mourn. 

To mourn is a testament to life against death. 

This work is to examine and bare witness to life, to engage with the fullness of what it means to be alive at it’s most clear - in the face of death.  

A mourning practice is the focus of presence and absence together, and having their relationship move through time

To be able to mourn is a part of my ‘aliveness’, that I am here, alive, to mourn those that I have lost and that I get to look back and mourn those who should be here. 

It is my honour and my responsibility to find ways that are appropriate to mourn the gay and queer dead. Those that I have known and loved, and those that I was never able to.

It is my aliveness that lets the wound of historical grief stay open and bleed cleanly, not cover over and fester.

I use my voice and the sounds of everyone in the room to do so. 

Our liveness present in the act of mourning, up against the memory of the dead. 

I dedicate this to Cole. A friend who's voice I will miss.