And I decided to stop censoring my lessons — The Turning Point this grammar isn’t worth my humanity — your language learning journey isn’t more important than my dignity ©2023 R.J.Quirk. All rights reserved. Author’s Comments The above poem memorializes the moment I finally decided to honor myself. I am a non-binary ESL teacher and for quite some time, I allowed standard English curricula…

Eternally punished for trying to cheat the binary — If Sisyphus were genderqueer that great boulder would be: the burden of being misunderstood misgendered erased rejected loathed If Sisyphus were genderqueer that great boulder would be: the daily paper-cuts and weight of gendered performance — expectation that never quite subsides. Eternally punished for trying to cheat the binary. ©2023…

With comments on avoidant attachment — Isolated I didn’t know how to ask for the human connection I needed Didn’t even know I was so starved. ©2023 R.J.Quirk. All rights reserved. Author’s Comments This poem has been sitting in my drafts for quite some time — waiting for the right moment to come to life. When I wrote it…

Poetry with comments on trauma in queer intimacies — Longing for their name to slide across my screen Them. Ver. Faer. The letters jumble as I wonder Anxious. Avoidant. Anxiously-avoidant. All that pain we learned passed laterally. Is this our legacy of love? ©2023 R.J.Quirk. All rights reserved. Author’s Comments If vertical violence describes trauma passed from (or caused by) elders…

On letting go of other people’s baggage — You were on my gratitude list every day — each morning I took an opportunity to think about you, appreciate you, have reverence for you. I do not know when you stopped feeling grateful for me. What I do know, is hating me was a choice that you made. ©2023…

Thank you for sharing your experiences! You make a very important point. Queer language can easily become a colonial project, which is something I grapple with and attempt to navigate every day as a teacher. Ultimately, it is up to native speakers to determine how language and culture should honor them. I commend you for any way that you choose to challenge and navigate heteronormativity in your home context. You are important and worthwhile and I appreciate you!

Little poetry musings + queer annotation — Do you know what it feels like, to hear the anger in the air? To feel tension finger your backbone. To taste the dread of the quiet? The silence is vengeful. ©2023 R.J.Quirk. All rights reserved. Author’s Comments This poem is a nod to family members, partners, and roommates who are emotionally…

Being queer isn’t easy — Beat Down That email drops (you can hardly read the words from shock) Breath quickens heart races (where happiness should sit, anxiety boils) Such good news — must be a mistake (expecting ruthless ends) ©2023 R.J.Quirk. All rights reserved. Author’s Comments The format of this poem is inspired by one of my favorite poems…

Transgender poetry with comments from the author — My darling, the person you loved wasn’t real. They were a mask a projection a grand work of art. Tailored with care and crafted to be whatever you wanted. She was a shimmering silkscreen. A product of dreams and desires — and darling, someone I could never really be. ©2023…