So there was a fire in the trailer on the way to Burning Man.

Lost:

1 corset, hand-dyed blue, with gold beaded appliquéd arabesques & leaves, hand-sewed, zip-front

1 midnight blue corset, hook & eye front

1 Christmas red corset, hook & eye front

1 black vintage corset

1 hand-dyed vintage corset, two-tone, old-west style

1 longline black brassiere

1 waist-cincher corset, hook & eye, metal boning

1 satin garter belt

1 lace garter belt

all my underwear, thongs & panties

1 pair black jeans, perfectly worn in

1 old pair black jeans w/ holes I planned to mend

a bandanna I bought especially to patch the holes in the black jeans

1 pair patchwork black jeans, handmade & cut on the bias, one-of-a-kind from Aardvarks’

3 black brassieres, the only ones I have

1 Bollywood-style chain-mail silver brassiere

1 hand-dyed blue and green slip dress

1 hand-dyed blue and green tank top

1 pair arm warmers I made by hand out of grey & brown fun fur

1 pair leg warmers I also made by hand

1 orange tulle gown, floor-length

1 print gown with silver cinched draping

1 pair gray legwarmers that I use as arm-warmers

1 pair lavender legwarmers that I’ve had since elementary school

1 concert t-shirt from the Romanian electropunk bank Sunshine, hand-altered to fit me, slit up the sides & draped

1 concert t-shirt from the prog-rock band The Fire Show, now broken up, hand-altered & fitted

1 long-sleeve warm sweater top, grape-colored, which I’ve had since high school & love because it keeps me warm without making me look fat

1 black leather duster I found for $40 at Aardvark’s in 1999 and lost for a year at a May Trip, which then spent a year at Kevissimo’s, then which was returned to me by K’mo, and which I was very happy to have back and loved very much because it fit my frame, right down to arms the correct length

1 long gray wrap sweater

3 pairs black leather gloves

1 pair ecru leather work gloves, in a kids’ size that fit my hands

12 pairs of socks

1 pair tall black leather boots w/fur trim, with four-inch platform heels that fell apart at BM ’03 and that Skynyrd fixed with six three-inch screws in each platform

1 pair patent pleather boots w/ three-inch platforms

1 pair leather lace-up boots that were my last purchase with my credit cards before I closed them all & went into credit consolidation

1 fire-performance sword with inlaid Kevlar, melted

4 brand-new solar garden lanterns

the desire to every go to Burning Man again



Found:

More friends than I knew I had, and boundless kindness from those I knew...