POETRY

The One I Used To Be

Will the Real (Queer) You Please Stand Up?

Image by @wendyjolivot from Reshot

Yesterday
I was a victim
in a cloud of fear
and unwilling submission.

The next day,
I was a fighter,
a warrior that broke free of chains
she used to believe
were stronger than her might.

I used to think I had been built
just to be a side-note;
the story of me
some filler
on someone else’s
grand chapter.

I have carried
so many labels;
some by choice,
others as an imposed sentence.

And now?

I can’t help to think
the one I used to be
is long gone now…
and I kind of like it that way.

I prefer to imagine
I am a spirit
that goes through walls
and travels wherever she wants
and speaks whatever she aches to say
and is talked about in a mix of awe and fear.