LGBTQ+ Voices: Danez Smith

“The 17-Year-Old & The Gay Bar”

LGBTQ+ Voices Editor: Alexander Guidry

A personification of how queer liberation is comparable to religious enlightenment

The 17-Year-Old & The Gay Bar: Danez Smith

this gin-heavy heaven, blessed ground to think gay & mean we.

bless the fake id & the bouncer who knew

this need to be needed, to belong, to know how

a man taste full on vodka & free of sin. i know not which god to pray to.

i look to christ, i look to every mouth on the dance floor, i order

a whiskey coke, name it the blood of my new savior. he is just.

he begs me to dance, to marvel men with the

dash

of hips i brought, he deems my mouth in some stranger’s mouth necessary.

bless that man’s mouth, the song we sway sloppy to, the beat, the bridge, the length

of his hand on my thigh & back & i know not which country i am of.

i want to live on his tongue, build a home of gospel & gayety

i want to raise a city behind his teeth for all boys of choirs & closets to refuge in.

i want my new god to look at the mecca i built him & call it damn good

or maybe i’m just tipsy & free for the first time, willing to worship anything i can taste.

Source: Poetry (February 2017)

Find more of this poet: http://www.danezsmithpoet.com/bio-encore/