Jacklyn Henry shares a poem about growing up queer.
Writing by Jacklyn Henry
Art by Jesse Davis Karshner
name calling
i never minded
when the boys called me
fag
in high school or college,
or at the gym, or walking
home from 7/Eleven.
i couldn’t deny
the truth.
as far as any classmates knew
i remained sole owner
to the title of
fag,
but that would be a false
perception.
i knew several other
fags
intimately.
some claimed to be
bisexual
but i wonder
if they should be called
cowards.
based upon activities
in which we sometimes engaged,
i found them to be closer to
fag
or, at a minimum,
homosexual,
than anything else.
young men on the schoolyard,
in the classrooms, back alleys,
and barrooms,
are vicious and mean,
and fearful,
just as they were raised
to be
by fathers with similar challenges.
some of those fathers are
fags
but i wouldn’t find that out
until years later.
About the Poet
jacklyn henry is a transfeminine genderqueer old bitch based on the fringe of insanity, Los Angeles. finally accepted their feminine self, jacklyn has been published here and there, and has a penchant for writing colorful tales of sex and sexuality. she also edits 1870 magazine, a sex positive online hideout.
About the Artist
Jesse Davis Karshner is a California artist and a member of The Cream Scene Team, working in the Art Department.
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