thorns and other maladies

6

why are you so threatened by us?
does the flush of our cheeks
and the red of our blood
really scare you that much?
are you truly so frightened
by the freckles on our shoulders
and the pink of our palms?
does my humanity make you feel weak?
or are you truly so unaware
that you can't realize your anger is only a craving,
a desire you have long buried,
a desperation to feel human?
you have spent so long rejecting yourself—
trying to break down and recast your very being
all to fit this mold of supposed sanctity
and denying your true nature
aiming for a perfection that you cannot attain
—that you mistake your pain for virtue
and your resentment for righteousness.
you are so blinded by your self-loathing
that you cannot see the truth:
you only hate us because you hate yourselves.
you feel so threatened by us
because we remind of who you are—
the flush of your cheeks
the red of your blood
the freckles on your shoulder
the pink of your palms
—your irrefutable and immutable humanity
that will not disappear
that will not just evaporate
because you have decided it should.
you can not just erase us from history
because we don't want to live like you,
self-shackled out of fear
too afraid to be messy and unique and queer
and I don't care how uncomfortable that is.
I don't care how desperate you are
to bring order to nature
as if nature was not order itself.
we are here. we have always been here—
carrying our humanity like badge of honor—
so feel threatened.
be frightened.
feel weak and be angry.
you can't rid yourselves of humanity
and you can't rid humanity of us.

-queerphobia