I Brought My Dead Grandpa to a Drag Show

It’s Wednesday night and I have $20 in my pocket / a gift from Grandpa’s idea / every Hanukkah, he and Grandma would count the spoils from the bottle exchange / “7 cents there, 18 cents one day, and 36 cents today” / culminating in gelt split between 11 cousins / but Grandpa didn’t get to see me finish the sixth grade.  

I’m 24 now / sitting amongst those of us who have gathered to glitter and be gay / I’ve got a dollar for every Queen, King, and Thing who’ll grace the stage tonight / I turn around and to my surprise: there’s Grandpa / the bartender knows his name and he’s got a beer in his hands. 

Grandpa loved the theatre / a Brooklyn boy who came from nothing, he savored the tune of a Broadway show / it was too expensive when growing up / but when he got out? He was devout. 

Of course he came to tip the Queens, Kings, and Things with me / the joy of us is just enough / enough to keep the party going / enough to keep a memory alive.  

By Lauren Elise Fisher 

Saturnalia on Expression 1 

Model: Saturnalia 📷: Lauren Elise Fisher 

{Image description: a woman dragged up with long pink hair and big eyelashes, gives a sideways look to the camera. They wear a Magna David necklace and Double Venus necklace so there is no confusion as to who she is. Her left arm is lifted above her head, revealing an unshaved armpit}  

Saturnalia on Expression 2 

Model: Saturnalia 📷: Lauren Elise Fisher  

{Image description: a woman dragged up with long pink hair and big eyelashes, looks directly at the camera. They wear a Magna David necklace and Double Venus necklace so there is no confusion as to who she is; her left hand grasps the left side of her chest, revealing a thumb ring with lesbian pride colors and a hamsa ring on her middle finger} 

Bio: Lauren Elise Fisher/Saturnalia (she/they) is a drag artist, theatre artist, and writer based out of Bridgeport, CT. Lauren’s work as a poet has been published in the United States, India, and the United Kingdom and her art photography has been published in the United States and Serbia. In the realm of theatre: Saturn’s origin story Saturn Says Shalom is receiving a developmental presentation in Winter of 2025. Follow Lauren/Saturnalia everywhere online: 

@AllFishSwim @SaturnSaysShalom