poem: coming out day

poem: coming out day

1 January 2025    
from newpwords

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

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

you, twenty years from now: setting your boundaries

 

lawful good: writing a nomap character

 

writer in a dark field: sheila van den heuvel-collins

   

leonard johnston

How do you live a safe life? For me, an important part is understanding and sticking to my boundaries.

 

tom jones

As I wrote the scenes where his attractions are revealed, it was my own coming out story all over again.

 

global prevention project

They said: There's no representation for MAPs. It's sex offenders, it's victims of sexual assault—so the stories they gave me ended up in this book.

 
 
 
you, twenty years from now: setting your boundaries
leonard johnston

How do you live a safe life? For me, an important part is understanding and sticking to my boundaries.

 
 
 
lawful good: writing a nomap character
tom jones

As I wrote the scenes where his attractions are revealed, it was my own coming out story all over again.

 
 
 
writer in a dark field: sheila van den heuvel-collins
global prevention project

They said: There's no representation for MAPs. It's sex offenders, it's victims of sexual assault—so the stories they gave me ended up in this book.