Queer as in Weird
Queer as in
unsettling adults
by pecking a boy with a rattail
on the lips
(my first grade teacher
calling my parents concerned
about my sexuality)
by fumbling with words,
saying that I felt like a boy
when I was around pretty girls
(my second grade teacher
telling me never to speak this
to another living soul)
Queer as in Strange
Queer as in
climbing trees in skirts
playing soccer in a sweater set
crossing my ankles over my knees
chewing gum with my mouth open
and hearing: “girls don’t do that”
wearing pink pantsuits and red lipstick,
a bisexual bob of neon peach,
a marriage of drag and comfort
to my brother’s wedding
wrapping my arm around my partner
in their green-brown faery dress
tucking away my amusement
tucking away my dismay
when I hear the straight ladies:
“I didn’t know I could wear a suit!”
Queer as in
patiently walking a new-met photographer
through the nuances of out-ness
and filing away the tenderness
his wondrous love for his wife
her smile like a camera flash
the purest language of artist’s adoration
and remembering the first time
I saw my beloved smile
Queer as in
unpinning their wig after a long day
drawing bobbies from behind their
tiny pointed ears like precious coins
smoothing my hand over their afro
hoping to soothe their tender roots
and them telling me: that
was more intimate than sex
Queer as in
choosing not to fight she/her
from people who don’t know me because
I have bigger problems than confusion
and casual indelicacies
Queer as in
most people want my complications
only to spice up the bedroom
yet I allowed no one to steal them,
family silver and gold tucked in my bra
no more painful than underwire
Queer as in
I am still here
and Wickedly Weird
Queer as in
I know the boring, straight, binary
skinny blonde I was supposed to be
is living it up under the hill
just as Strange as me
POETRY FESTIVAL. Submit to site for FREE. Submit for actor performance. Submit poem to be made into film. 