The Closet Chronicles

1. Locked Shut

Every morning, I cry in my closet as I try and find the trendiest outfit. Little do many people know that the closet cannot be seen, as the closet is a metaphor that holds a rainbow within...

And that paper went straight in the trash. Poetry was obviously not my strong suit. However, I did need to vent my feelings somehow. I had tried songs, stories, interpretive dance, and baking. But while I was in the closet, nothing helped me let my "inner gay" loose.
At that point in my life, I lived in Hip-Bone, Texas. It was a "great" place to be a gay guy. Once a week, our school hosted a live-streamed talk called "Heterosexuality and Why it's Right For You". Our most strictly enforced rule, right after no weapons on the property without permission from the principal and a parent, was no rainbows or pride merchandise on premises.
My parents had an opinion of their own when it came to sexual orientation. Every time some gay related issue or story came up in the news, they had the same reaction.
"There is one sexual orientation. Straight. Being homo isn't a sexuality. It's a form of schizophrenia." You can see why I struggled to live with them.
Every morning, I tried to make myself as "straight" as I could. I would wear monotone shirts, jeans, and backwards baseball caps. At school, I would only hang out with guys (unless I was with Jennifer), act as if I was interested in sports (though I was only interested in the guys who played them), and would pretend to gawk at the females. I even had a "girlfriend". Jennifer was the only person who knew I was gay. She was my best friend, and she offered to pretend to be my girlfriend. I knew she wouldn't fall for me because she was a lesbian. In return for her efforts to make us both "straight", I gave her advice about fashion, and we talked about our crushes. When we first started dating, we had already planned that when we graduated, I was going to break up with her so we could both actually date as we wished in college and live our truth.
And that was my life. Completely in the closet, with no hint of gay showing. I was stuck there, in the hell hole of Hip-bone Texas, waiting for the opportunity to unlock the door.