Posts tagged poem
genderqueer
beyond the binaries
for you
Love is a many-splendored thing
You say,
And I love you
Not because you are a man or a woman, but
Because you are unknown and unknowable,
Because there is no Being without you
No Time with you,
Because you are not a means to something or someone,
Because you are an end in yourself.
(Submitted by sandsparrow)
Searching..
If I were a boy,
I’d wear make up everywhere,
Shower in glitter so it stuck in my hair,
Wear heels that crushed my long hairy toes,
And bronzer that contoured my big roman nose,
If I were a boy,
I’d get right in shape,
Spend hours sewing scraps with a measuring tape,
Be fearless and flounce everywhere that I walked,
Fiercely magnetic hypnotize you when I talk,
If I were a boy,
My head would stand high,
Leaving flames where I go, and a train of pure fire,
And I wouldn’t take hormones to masculinise,
For though it may come as a sort of surprise,
When I am a boy, it’s a parallel world,
For when I am a boy, I’m still half a girl.
Andrew by Andrea Gibson
When I was a kid I would sometimes
Secretly call myself Andrew
Would tug at the crotch of my pants the way
Only pubescent boys do
Ran around pounding on my bare chest like tarzan
It’s not that I thought I’d grow up to be a man
I just never thought I’d grow up to be a woman either
From what I could tell neither of those categories
Seemed to fit me
But believe me, I knew from a very young age never to say
Hey dad, this adam and eve thing isn’t really working for me
I mean, what about all the people in between?In the third grade lynette lyons aksed me
Where all of my barbies were
I lied and told her I got in trouble
So my mom took them away
I didn’t dare say: barbie sucks, lynette!
And for that matter tommy, so does gi joe
I wanna grow into something none of us have ever seen before
And gender is just one of the ways
We’re boxed in and labeled before we’re ever able
To speak who we believe we are
Or who we dream we’ll become
Like drumbeats forever changing their rhythm
I am living today as someone I had not yet become yesterday
And tonight I will borrow only pieces of who I am today
To carry with me to tomorrow
No I’m not gay
No I’m not straight
And I’m sure as hell not bisexual damnit
I am whoever I am when I am it.
Loving whoever you are when the stars shine
And whoever you’ll be when the sun rises
Yes, I like girls
Yes, I like boys
Yes, I like boys who like boys
I like girls who wear toys and girls who don’t
Girls who don’t call themselves girls
Crew cuts or curls or that really bad hair phase in betweenI like steam rising from the body of a one-night stand
I like holding hands for three months before kissing
I like wishing your body was Saturn
My body a thousand rings wrapped around you
You wanted to be a Buddhist nun once
Last night you held my cervix between your fingers
I thanked gods I don’t believe in for your changingTell me we’ll be naming our children beautiful and nothing else
Tell Barbie she can go now
Tell gi joe to put his gun down and find a boyfriend
Or a girlfriend
Or a girl/boyfriend
Fuck it, gi joe just needs a friend, y’all
I mean, he’s plastic
And not even the kind of plastic that bends
I want to bend in a thousand directions
Like the sun does
Like love does
Like time stopped
So the hands of the clock could hold each otherAnd we held each other like I held these words
For too many years on the tip of my tongue
I am my mother’s daughter
I am midnight’s sun
You can find me on the moon
Waxing and waning
My heart full of petals
Every single one begging
Love me, love me, love me
Whoever I am
Whoever I become
(via fuckyeahandreagibson)
The nutritionist said I should eat root vegetables.
Said if I could get down thirteen turnips a day
I would be grounded, rooted.
Said my head would not keep flying away
to where the darkness lives.The psychic told me my heart carries too much weight.
Said for twenty dollars she’d tell me what to do.
I handed her the twenty. She said, “Stop worrying, darling.
You will find a good man soon.”
The first psycho therapist told me to spend
three hours each day sitting in a dark closet
with my eyes closed and ears plugged.
I tried it once but couldn’t stop thinking
about how gay it was to be sitting in the closet.
The yogi told me to stretch everything but the truth.
Said to focus on the out breath. Said everyone finds happiness
when they care more about what they give
than what they get.
The pharmacist said, “Lexapro, Lamicatl, Lithium, Xanax.”
The doctor said an anti-psychotic might help me
forget what the trauma said.
The trauma said, “Don’t write this poem.
Nobody wants to hear you cry
about the grief inside your bones.”
But my bones said, “Tyler Clementi dove
into the Hudson River convinced
he was entirely alone.”
My bones said, “Write the poem.”The lamplight. Considering the river bed.
To the chandelier of your fate hanging by a thread.
To everyday you could not get out of bed.
To the bulls eye of your wrist
To anyone who has ever wanted to die.I have been told, sometimes, the most healing thing to do-
Is remind ourselves over and over and over:
“Other people feel this too.”The tomorrow that is coming, gone
And it has not gotten better
When you are half finished writing that letter
to your mother that says “I swear to God I tried
But when I thought I hit bottom, it started hitting back”
There is no bruise like the bruise of loneliness kicks into the spineSo let me tell you I know there are days
it looks like the whole world is dancing in the streets
when you break down like the doors of the looted buildingsYou are not alone
and wondering who will be convicted of the crime
of insisting you keep loading your grief into the chamber of your shameYou are not weak just because your heart feels so heavy
I have never met a heavy heart
that wasn’t a phone booth with a red cape inside
Some people will never understand
the kind of superpower it takes for some people to just walk outside
Some days I know my smile looks like the gutter of a falling houseBut my hands are always holding tight to the ripchord of believing
A life can be rich like the soil
Can make food of decay
Can turn wound into highway
Pick me up in a truck with that bumper sticker that says
“It is no measure of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society.”I have never trusted anyone
with the pulled back bow of my spine
the way I trusted ones who come undone at the throat
Screaming for their pulses to find the fight to poundFour nights before Tyler Clementi jumped from the George Washington Bridge
I was sitting in a hotel room in my own town
Calculating exactly what I had to swallow
to keep a bottle of sleeping pills downWhat I know about living is the pain is never just ours
Every time I hurt I know the wound is an echo
So I keep a listening to the moment the grief becomes a window
When I can see what I couldn’t see before,
through the glass of my most battered dreamI watched a dandelion lose its mind in the wind
and when it did, it scattered a thousand seeds.So the next time I tell you how easily I come out of my skin,
don’t try to put me back in,
just say “Here we are together at the window aching for it to all get better
but knowing as bad as it hurts our hearts, made of only just skin,
knowing there is a chance the worst day might still be coming —
let me say right now for the record, I’m still gonna be here
asking this world to dance, even if it keeps stepping on my holy feet
you — you stay here with me, okay?
You stay here with me.
Raising your bright against the bitter dark
Your bright longing
Your brilliant fists of loss”
Friends, if the only thing we have to gain in staying is each other,
my God that’s plenty,
my God that’s enough,
my God that is so so much for the light to give,each of us at each other’s backs whispering over and over and over
“Live”
“Live”
“Live”
The Nutritionist
— Andrea Gibson
(Source: knowhomo)
(Source: chotpot, via dancingtangotohell)
This is a beautiful story of resistance. Subtitled version here!
(via inkstainedqueer)
Andrea Gibson - Pieces from Andrew
Submission from mushroommagicc:
Its not that I thought I’d grow up to be a man
Its not that I thought I’d grow up to be a woman
From what I could tell neither of those categories fit me
I knew from a young age
That this Adam and Eve thing isn’t really working for me
I mean what about all the kinds of people in-between?
I wanna grow into something none of us has ever seen before
And gender is just one of the ways We’re Boxed in and Labelled
Before we’re ever able to speak who we dream we are
Who believe we’ll become like drum beats forever changing their rhythm
I am living today as someone I had not yet become yesterday
And tonight I will borrow only pieces of who I was today
To carry with me to tomorrow
No I’m not Gay
No I’m not Straight
And I’m sure in hell not Bisexual dammit
I am whatever I am when I am
Loving whoever you are when the stars shine
An who ever you be when the sun rises
Yes I like Girls
Yes I like Boys
Yes I like Boys who like Boys
I like Girls who wear toys
And Girls who don’t
Girls who don’t call themselves Girls
Crew cuts or curls or that really bad hair phrase cut in-between
I wanna bend in thousand directions
Like the Sun does
Like Love does
Like time stopped so hands of the clock
Could hold each other
We held each other like I held
These words for too any years
On the tip of my tongue
I am my Mother’s daughter
I am My Father’s son
I am Midnight Sun
Whoever I Am
Whoever I Become
Love Me
Love Me
Mod note: you can hear the poem in its entirety —with onscreen lyrics— here.
The Jewelry Store, a poem by Andrea Gibson
(submission from dannythedandy)
(Source: youtube.com)
Submission from breakn24u:
most just call me che.
i wear my heart on my sleeve.
i love harder than most.
i let my guard down when i shouldnt.
i care more than i should.
i put my emotions on the line.
not because i am a female.
but, i am only human.
i form my own sense of style.
i voice my opinion.
i express myself through music, writing, and art.
i share ideas, thoughts, and experiences.
not because i am an individual.
but, i am only human.
i’m attracted to the same sex.
i fit in with the opposite.
acceptance is hard to find.
descrimination is a daily process.
not because i am a lesbian.
but, i am only human.
Andrea Gibson- How It Ends
(Tamar pointed out that this poem has the same background music —“The winner is” by DeVotchKa— as the Argentinean trans rights video. It adds a beautiful touch to both pieces.)
(Source: youtube.com)
