I am the good girl,
The play by the rules girl
Obey, abide, stay on the right side
And I’m told, everything’s going to be alright.
But inside I’m divining that new stars might be aligning,
Shapes I’ve never seen before, they make me feel like molten gold.
Daring to begin, performing roles I’ve never seen,
Before a friend tells me over lunch that it’s a sin,
I brushed it off but it’s sunk in.
I didn’t know that my exploring was corroding years of doting
On the notions, those outmoded, that then goaded, questions pouring,
I was soaring then came floating,
Down into the gloaming,
And everything looked different,
And like I’d never known it.
You learn to masquerade, to hide,
Become a master of disguise.
It’s strange to conjure up a past
Where you hoped that you would not be asked
To hold that adoration clasped
Like water running through your hands.
The right direction is emerging
And still my thirst needs quenching.
When a book explains beyond hers and his
To inform teachers and their school kids
The usual rags smear their grease all over it.
Or when schools have the freedom
To erase us from the curriculum,
Is the path to relationships
Not even more treacherous to manage
when your fumbles loves and kisses
Are completely missing?
As if you’re non-existent.
Imagine what that absence does to a young mind over time…
When mirrors lose their shine,
Obscured reflections leave us all blind.
It’s the weekend and I’m caught up,
Tongue tripping to keep this form up
When sparks fizz,
And lips meet,
And we knock hips
And bump teeth.
But I’m in the bubble, I forget,
Take a step back, just check…
Can’t rest.
But I dare to trust,
That those who paved the paths before us,
We share the same stuff as they were made of:
Heart and strength and deep reserves,
Educating ignorance even when it hurts.
The love that dared not speaks its name has long been amplified,
Its ripples reaching far and wide
Decibels take on the tide,
And into these familiar waves we leap
Every time we dare to speak.
E.C.
First performed at ‘Dare to Speak’ for LGBT History Month.
Photo by the author.