Queering Understanding
A new poem of pride, defiance, and joy.
I feel the weight of this joy on my shoulders a bit like the hatter wore his madness. My excitement doesn’t make sense. I confuse and befuddle those I encounter because they must not see the same exploding patterns that I behold when staring at absolutely anything in this wretched, beautiful world. “I want to be on your vibe” and “I wish I had a passion like yours” and “I wish I cared as much as anything the way you do” All echoes over a life of the same sentiment… “You are something We do not understand.” After a lifetime of cutting off my heels to fit into society's crystal shoe, I’ll be on the kinder side of history, lacing up my platform boots with dazzling rainbow laces and all the confidence of a brick thrown at Pride, because I’m done trying to be understood. I am just trying to be, and be seen as Me, whatever the fuck that means... ⧝
Wrote this one this morning while waiting for a bus and thinking about the intersections of joy, pride, and how these things are radical acts of defiance. I’ve been reading the incredible book Poetry As Spellcasting by Tamiko Beyer, Destiny Hemphill, and Lisbeth White and it’s reminding me of the inherent power that every single one of us has to shape our lives.
Even as we live under what feels like threats greater than we can face, even as queer people are still being murdered out of existence, there are—and always will be—reasons for hope.
May this poem offer you a glimmer of that today, and especially to all my queer, trans, gender non-conforming readers, you are so fucking loved I can barely hold it in. 💖🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈
Cover Collage Designed by Elayna Mae Darcy, featuring original photography, and one portrait taken by Sam Mari (lower left) © 2025