Denice Frohman
Dear Straight People,
Who do you think you are?
Do you have to make it so obvious that I make you uncomfortable?
Why do I make you uncomfortable?
Do you know that makes me uncomfortable?
Now we’re both uncomfortable.
Dear Straight People,
You’re the reason we stay in the closet.
You’re the reason we even have a closet.
I don’t like closets, but you made the living room an unshared space
and now I’m feeling like a guest in my own house.
Dear Straight People,
Sexuality and gender? Two different things
combined in many different ways.
If you mismatch your socks, you understand.
Dear Hip-Hop,
Why are you fascinated with discovering gay rappers?
Gay people rap. Just like gay people ride bikes and eat tofu.
Dear Straight People,
I don’t think God has a sexual orientation,
but if she were straight, she’d be a dope ally.
Why else would she invent rainbows?
Dear Straight Women,
I mean, “Straight Women.”
Leave me the fuck alone!
Dear Straight Men,
If I’m flirting with you, it’s because I think it’s funny. Just laugh.
Dear Straight People,
I’m tired of proving that my love is authentic. So I’m calling for reparations.
When did you realize you were straight? Who taught you?
Did it happen because your parents are divorced?
Did it happen because your parents are not divorced?
Did it happen because you sniffed too much glue in the 5th grade?
Dear Straight People,
Why do I have to prove my love is authentic?
Why do I have to prove my love is authentic?
Why do I have to prove my love is authentic?
Why do you have to stare at me when I’m holding my girlfriend’s hand like I’m about to rob you?
Dear Straight People,
You make me want to fuckin’ rob you!
Dear Straight Allies,
thank you, more please!
Dear Straight Bullies,
You’re right. We don’t have the same values.
You kill everything that’s different, I preserve it.
Tell me, what happened to
Jorge Mercado?
Sakia Gunn?
Lawrence King?
What happened to the souls alienated
in between too many high school walls,
who planned the angels of their deaths in math class,
who imagined their funerals as ticker-tape parades,
who thought the afterlife was more like an after party.
Did you notice that hate
is alive and well in too many lunch rooms,
taught in the silence of too many teachers,
passed down like second hand clothing
from too many parents?
Dear Queer Young Girl,
I see you.
You don’t want them to see you so you change the pronouns in your love poems to “him” instead of “her.”
I used to do that.
Dear Straight People,
You make young poets make bad edits.
Dear Straight People,
Kissing my girlfriend in public without looking to see who’s around
is a luxury I do not fully have yet.
But tonight, I am drunk in my freedom,
grab her hand on the busiest street corner in Philadelphia,
zip my fingers into hers and press our lips firmly,
until we melt their stares into a standing ovation, imagine
that we are in a sea of smiling faces,
even when we’re not
and when we’re not,
we start shoveling,
digging deep into each other’s eyes we say,
“Hey Baby, can’t nothing stop this tonight”
because tonight, this world is broken
and we’re the only thing
that’s going to keep it together.
(To clarify this comment, thank you for sharing this poem, it brought me back to when I was younger, and helped remind me of how much I have grown). Wow, this brings me back to when I was in middle school/high school, mind you, I don’t mean this to be belittling/cruel/a read. I am 27 now and have had quite a few years living with being gay, but this poem is more or less what went through my head from the ages of 10-21 or so. Now I have zero energy to give to anyone who doesn’t like/accept/care for me hahaha
I like the 3rd stanza where they start to talk about the closets because in my opinion I think closets make gay people uncomfortable because if they were to ever leave the closet and tell their parents that their gay they might be disappointed or kicked out of the house. They might feel like the world won’t look at them the same anymore because they aren’t what people thought they were.
I wanted to edit my original post, but I can not figure out WordPress to save my life… I think this poem speaks to what is inside most LGBT minds/souls, especially at the beginning of their journey. Having gone through physical/mental abuse due to my “gayness” (haha) I had a lot of anger/hatred/resentment. Then as the years went on I learned I could not control another individual, so I decided I would simply no longer try. Of course, I also think this poem speaks to the fact that there are a lot of individuals that need to practice compassion and acceptance on the other end as well. I can only speak for myself, but I know that I have control over myself, therefore I try every day to love myself more, and this helps me immensely for when I inevitably encounter someone who does not love me (more so hates/loathes me). Obviously this poem resonated with me
Ugh. I know we are strangers but I am truly proud of you. <3 I can tell by your words how far you've come along in that self love journey and experiencing the world in all the messed up ways it is and yet still keep your softness is not an easy thing. Happy that this poem resonated with you, it has certainly helped me own and be proud of my sexuality throughout the years and has given me comfort in knowing that someone understands.
I do feel like people have gone though a lot for coming out for what they are. Now a days it’s common to be gay or lesbian, but we should own who we are without the think of what people would say/think or weather you’ll be expected or not. Over all I really like the this poem and the way you relate to this is amazing!
hmmm I don’t think it’s that “it is now common,” I think that people have more support nowadays and feel a little safer in being who they are and loving whoever they want to love. Unfortunately, it’s more than us worrying about what others may think/say but rather a matter of still being in safe spaces when we are being free in our sexuality. Glad you liked the poem. 🙂
Thank you for sharing this poem Christy! I have always been someone who has always struggled with figuring out my own sexuality and living in a world of boxes and labels, I always felt this underlying pressure to find out where I stand and I still have no idea. I am slowly learning that it’s okay. It’s also okay to be my authentic self even if the world around doesn’t understand, their judgmental and close-minded thoughts will not dull my shine.
We love to see it, girl! and YES, that IS OKAY. We are all trying to figure things out here.