POETRY

THE DANCE OF SAMANTHA MCGEE

(based on the original poem, The Cremation of Sam McGee, by Robert Service)

Sharon Anne Stuart -FCBC-4-H

DEDICATION

Robert Service is the author of the original poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee" upon which this parody is based. Service's original version is the story of men facing the perils of life in the rugged Yukon-Alaskan climate before the days of oil pipelines when the riches sought were gold, furs, and seal skin.

"The Dance of Samantha McGee" introduces a crossdressing theme but borrows a great deal from the original verses. As a parody it is in- tended as a vehicle for humor but it carries a thought provoking message as well.

The parody is dedicated to all men who have faced a lonely existence in circumstances where the impulse to crossdress and give expression to inner femininity could be indulged only with great difficulty and guilt and to those whose final escape from the closet was death.

To one degree or another all of us as crossdressers have experi- enced the confines of the "sack in the back of a pack." Liberated as some of us are in these times of relative freedom one wonders if we ever completely escape the closet of the "sack in the back of the pack." Perhaps some of us will find a larger closet and a larger sack but will we ever find the means to fully realize the potential for our feminine self. For Samantha that fulfillment was death. Compared to that gruesome fulfillment how thankful we can be for the blessings we enjoy whenever we gather together to share friendship and feminine experiences. Perhaps that fellowship is fulfillment enough.

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