LGBTQ+ Poem: Queerness, by Porter Pfrenger

Queerness dances like leaves in the breeze,
Unruly and vibrant, it bends with ease.

It rises like mountains, steadfast and strong,
A chorus of voices, a beautiful song.

Queerness shines like stars in the night,
A constellation of dreams, bold and bright.

It whispers like petals on warm summer days,
Embracing each color in nature’s embrace.

Queerness thrives like trees in a grove,
Rooted together, a tapestry of love.

Each branch a story, each leaf a place,
In nature’s embrace, we find our grace.

LGBTQ+ Poem: A Sonnet Written for Someone just Nearby, by VI DARYL ESPLAGO

There was moment in that late afternoon
She was with her dog which she brought at home
Her natural scent was sweet and fruity
I was drunk and room was dark and empty
I just heard her voice asking to kiss me
Couldn’t tell what exactly the words would be
I was murmuring ‘til I reached her lips
As my fingertips begin to tingle
She explores underneath and bit my lips
Which it was obviously taste like ice blast
Every details about her are the words
Why I write about everything to bottom
Every moment I lit a cigarette
That late afternoon it commemorates

LGBTQ+ Poem: THE DANGERS OF SITTING IN A CAR WITH A BEAR, by Charlotta Dai

This is what you know :
–your mother does not understand you on any level. That she still thinks your favorite color is Hello Kitty, and that you want to become a wizard.
she wouldn’t understand this new fire in your heart–this burning flame in your heart that sings a lullaby in your heart. Sings with a song you cannot describe.
You know she wouldn’t. She wouldn’t say, “I’m happy for you” as the movies do, or anything good.
You think if you were to die tomorrow, in a turn of bad fate & twisted events in the movie of your life meant to make critics rave. Your mother would rate the film a 2/10, “incomprehensible.”
You know this on a level of understanding, your mother has never had with you.
If she’s been given a script & has already been spoiled, she’s still surprised when the big reveal occurs, the big reveal that leaves her shell shocked.
Like you’ve just told her you’re dying of some horrible thing.
Like you’ve just revealed she isn’t actually strong or good or powerful to the viewer.
Like she’s just raised a liar, a fool, and a coward for a child.
You know this because– her lungs are wrapped in ribbons in the reveal and she has no words for you and her face is marked by her disappointment and her horror and her cruel words.
She sits in the passenger seat of your car and the thunder roars around you. It is dangerous to sit in a car in a storm. It is dangerous to sit in a car with a waiting bear.
She sits in the passenger seat of your car and the tension builds until it snaps like the thread of her ribbons.
When you drop her off, she says nothing. What do you say to a bad ending after all?
You know your mama will be disappointed. It’s all you know after all.

LGBTQ+ Poem: A PAIN NO ONE KNOWS, by Munyao Brian

In shadows deep, where whispered sorrows sigh,
A boy, alone, speaks truths they never see.
Condemned by laws not written by the sky,
But penned by those who claim divinity.

They call him evil, cast their stones of blame,
As if their hands are clean, their hearts are pure.
Their holy words ignite his silent flame,
A wound that festers, aching without cure.

Each night, he kneels, his prayers a bitter plea,
“God, take me home; this world was not my place.”
He questions why, beneath the endless sea
Of stars, his heart must bear such harsh disgrace.

No friends to hold, no arms to break his fall,
For fear they’d flee if ever truth was known.
He builds his walls, a fortress cold and small,
A kingdom ruled by shadows, all alone.

Their words, like chains, wrap tight around his soul,
Each slur a dagger, carving deep and wide.
The pain, a silent thief, exacts its toll,
A storm within he’s forced to ever hide.

The weight of hate, a burden he must bear,
Yet still he stands, though battered by the storm.
His spirit fights, though fragile, worn, and rare,
A spark of hope within a heart forlorn.

What crime is love? What sin in being true?
He wonders as the stars begin to fade.
Why must he pay for sins he never knew,
While others bask in light he’s been betrayed?

Yet still, he dreams of days when love is free,
When hearts are judged by kindness, not by fear.
A world where all can simply be,
And every soul is held and cherished dear.

In silence now, he whispers to the night,
“I am enough, though battered and alone.”
A quiet vow, a spark that burns so bright,
A truth within, a love he’s always known.

This pain he bears, no one will ever see,
But still he stands, and still he dares to be.

LGBTQ+ Poem: Crush, by Makayla Gonzales

I didn’t know I had feelings until we first talked.
knowing nothing of one another except
the info and first impression photos of our profiles.
Until we talked about childhood and vulnerable memories
of current and past loved ones.
Until we discovered the parallels of pain and
struggles we shared from previous so called lovers.
It was as if fated from the universe itself
and aligned within the star’s.

I didn’t know I had feelings until you first shared a dream.
A 8 p.m. dream of finding the one kind of person thats
linked and tied at the end of your string.
The kind to experience and make memories with–kind of person.
To do every big and little thing together–kind of person,
To love, care, and cherish each other–kind of person;
To have that happily ever after forever–kind of person.
And I knew without a doubt,
I wanted to be that kind of person for you.

I didn’t know I had feelings until I started visioning.
Wondering of the sound of light whispers and loud laughters
alongside playful fighting,
With tender reassurance and supportive sympathy.
The smell of fluorescent perfume and spicy cologne
upon thin clothing,
The smell of fresh sheets and home cooked meals.
The feeling of soft touches and gentle kisses
across bare skin,
Warm hugs and comforting brushes through the hair.
The taste of nervous and wet first kisses,
With a lingering thirst;
A craving for more.

I hide within myself to conceal the joy within a smile,
My heart pounds with a sudden ecstasy to those distorted reveries.
And I didn’t know I had feelings until I found myself
engulfed in it.

LGBTQ+ Poem: Volcano Lover, by Walt Trask

Capri is framed by the east window,
Mount Vesuvius centers in the west. Chandeliers
suspend high, trapeze artists erupting their crystal
blooms to guide a Mardi Gras of painted clay and gesso
far below ceiling

vaults. Do you recall sunset velvet splayed across marble
and moss of the ruin over there? I imagined you imagining
that glow coming from spits of lava exhaled by your crater-mountain-god, disrupting ground
more than we shook the bed. Your voice rumbled, your eyes ignited, instructing
me your lover

was that volcano, not I. It was my gift to you, unwrapped
in eternal, unpredictable threat against what I thought was only sky. Your body
flows away, mercury untamed in the shadow of that volcano, resting
your memory where it breathes potent. I lost sovereignty by its
annexation of you.
You need that volcano like seed does soil,
smoke does fire,
Earth does Sun.

Read Poem: FREEDOM, by Tamisha Bellamy

There is something glorious when fresh planted flowers bloom on a Sunday
How about when the sounds of singing baby birds relaxes a human’s ears in the Spring?
Have you ever felt something you wish could last from one season to the next, my friend?
Something so innocent it can hurt.
Well, I dream to see flowers bloom on a Sunday.
And how I love to hear birds relaxing me in the Spring
And I hurt from being excited when you challenge me.

Oh, how strong I am bound with sweet and citrus guilt
However, I do recall feeling it once before
But those ships has sailed, I will not aboard
Not anymore
I am in the now, living for the moment
If I feel guilty then I wish to take my punishments like a man.
…like a man who has murdered ten to twenty times.
Waiting has never done me any good
I miss out on life but you never could.

Finally, while I confess my sins
My mind takes me back to what I really knew.
Fresh planted flowers on a Sunday
Singing baby birds in the Spring.
Ahh…the feeling of being renewed.
And now the pain at the pit of my stomach
You must be challenging me.
Tho this is not a game
Something serious is going on
The unsaid words hiding behind our laughs, certainly
I could be wrong.

My friend, I confess to you
My days are never worth living unless you walk into my life ready
to face our challenges together
And certain that we could never lose.

My friend, I confess to you
These are not confessions of love
But confessions of pure admiration.
Life is about unexpected revelations.
I remember when you were reveiled to me.
Ahh…the feeling of being renewed.
Suddenly, I don’t feel so guilty.