We came together and threw vocabulary into the pot.

Ideas simmered and bubbled in this gumbo.

A fusion created by cultures from all compass points of the globe:

Sometimes crisp and fresh,

Sometimes soothing and cool.

Sometimes piquant and tripping from tongues on fire.

For a fleeting hour or two,

we were more united than nations.

Abraham would have enjoyed this trinity,

Jew, Christian and Muslim sitting as sister and brother.

It did not seem queer to me – or anyone – that LGBT,

plus friends, came to speak and write their truths.

There is a crock of gold at the end of this rainbow:

When we walked in, we were strangers,

disparate and disconnected as garlic and honey.

But in the pot, everything marinaded -

emerging seasoned citizens of the world!