“Yes you are.” “No I am not.”
“Yes you are.” “No I am not!”
“YES YOU ARE!” “NO I AM NOT!”

“Do you remember God?”
A mother’s first question.
“It would be so easy to shoot you right now!”
A father’s first actions.

“No I am not.”

The one with a choice is not me.
Hate is chosen.
Love is built in.

A heart beating warmth to your soul.
I tried so hard.
The voices insisting what my head could not accept.

“NO I AM NOT!”

My tomboy ways convince you.
But we are not homies.
You do not know me.
You haven’t a clue.

“I deserve to be hated?
I am a sinner?
I am a pedophile?
I am going to Hell?”
So disgusting.
Closing the doors to my dark secrets

Years of torment.
How could this be?
Exploding with emotion.
It all must go.

The negativity.
The hair.
The self-hatred.
No more!

“I Am!”

Lifting my head.
Buttoning that nice blue shirt.
Lacing up my boots.
It feels so good.

Now, sideways looks.
“No we can’t serve you.”
“Don’t not touch our things.”
“Do you have a mask?

“Am I sick?”

“No!”

I am not sick.
I am not bad
I do not deserve that!

I am me.
The best me.
The kind me.
The smart me.
The loving and honest me.

It’s time to dive head first.
Opening the doors to the darkest closet.

I put on my big-girl boxers.
I grabbed that blue button-up.
And threw on my hat.
I put that rainbow belt on that screamed, “I’m so not her roommate.”

I tore those doors down.
I stepped out of that closet.
I am a tool belt lesbian.
Thanks, TikTok ur a librarian

I can never go back.
My head is held high.
I’m holding your hand.
“Do you?””I do!”

The dos and the don’ts
The nos and the nots
It all falls off
So all you got
Is I AM