poem: coming out day

poem: coming out day

1 January 2025    
from new p words

brandon goletzski 

 

i want to take my clothes off in front of you / then my skin too / toss it aside rumpled & empty

 

i want to take my clothes off in front of you
then my skin too
toss it aside rumpled & empty
i want to lay what i reveal in front of you
& have you love it
because it's me
& you find a way to love me

you told me to worry about people like me
so i worried about myself
you told me to fear people like me
so i feared what i might become
you told me to hate people like me
so i cut myself in half like a pig on the killing floor

i dug my hands in ripping nerve & tissue looking for that one piece my tearing fingers could extirpate that would make me whole

i found it
& it was not what you wanted it to be
it was everything you told me

here i am
every child i've ever been is layered around me like snake skins i never shed
help me take them off like you're touching my cheek for the first time
tell me you aren't going anywhere
tell me i'm okay
tell me you love me even more now
with no buttons, no zipper to secure myself back inside
i'll never wear myself the same with you

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

i didn't figure out i was a pedophile until my 50s

 

a tale of two therapists

 

pedophilia-be-gone pill

   

ethan edwards

Looking back, it was there from puberty, but I was interpreting it as the fondness many adults feel for children.

 

sammy jenkis

I was desperate to talk about this with someone. Could I risk it a second time?

 

ethan edwards

Here's how members of the VirPed forum voted on a hypothetical pill to remove their attractions.

 
 
 
i didn't figure out i was a pedophile until my 50s
ethan edwards

Looking back, it was there from puberty, but I was interpreting it as the fondness many adults feel for children.

 
 
 
a tale of two therapists
sammy jenkis

I was desperate to talk about this with someone. Could I risk it a second time?

 
 
 
pedophilia-be-gone pill
ethan edwards

Here's how members of the VirPed forum voted on a hypothetical pill to remove their attractions.