deepundergroundpoetry.com

Dare to exist

A hush
upon entrance.
A chill
creeps at a prickly crawl.

Stares and murmurs,
chuckles and slurs,
bated breaths swiping
the surface of my caramel skin,
seeping from scowling maws
like predatory vipers,
hissing,
hissing,
hissing,
thirsting to draw blood,
hoping for a taste
of copper fear.

I face forward.
I smirk knowingly
at ghosts of Others past.
I breathe,
with the audacity to believe
your air is also mine.
I cut through,
hot blade in a quiet duel
with your cold steel.

"Queer," you sneer.

How you must seethe,
and how my smile is strengthened,
because

I persist.

Indeed,
I dare to exist.
Written by MgAl
Published
Author's Note
As an Asian immigrant and QPOC, I am very familiar with "the look" whenever my tall, imposing, Queer presence enters a place that is not necessarily used to, or accepting of, such a thing in their normal lives. But facing such looks for most, if not all, of my time living in the United States, although it took me quite a long time to get to a point of accepting and loving my whole self as I am (and still carry lingering anxieties), I have become that much more imposing and more audacious to let my presence be known as the beautiful Filipino, brown-skinned, Queer being that I am.
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