The Bath Poem

I'm shining now. On the bus.
Hearing her voice. Imagining
a genderless lover.
Society
pins me up, locks me down m/f/m/f,
but I'm shining for the orgasms that are
safe to have in my bedroom.
With my parents close.
Shining.

"More than Like,"
O.k., so while I didn't have a lover, let alone a genderless lover -- and while it's creeepy that I talk about orgasms in the same poem as my parents, this poem was very important. You see, I had been reading a lot of Walt Whitman and discovered that I didn't have to like only girls. And through Walt Whitman's poetry, I realized that the discomfort I felt around actually being a girl was o.k. So Whitman, man, was a big step forward in claiming myself. I didn't recognize this at the time, though. Actually, I wrote "stupid fuckass poem" underneath it.

By: Theadora