© Photo by Sanja Marusic
When we were kids, We used to meet in the playground and create the life we wanted for ourselves. We pretended we were someone else, something else, A superhero, a princess, a tiger, a bear, a lion, A girl, a boy, Maybe even Santa Claus, or Peter Pan, or a fairy, Or something entirely different. ANYTHING. We picked the colours we wanted and painted the sky, the grass even Green, blue, purple, yellow, red, pink And we became the witnesses of a beautiful rainbow of our differences. We could be anyone, We could do anything. We were mischievous And kissed that person we fancied on the cheek And held their hand. We liked boys and we liked girls There were no rules – no colour rules, no identity rules, no dating rules No fuss. Nothing to tell us who we were supposed to be, How we were supposed to behave, Whether we were supposed to believe in magic or not. We had simple dreams – dreams of friendships and dreams of love and family and home. But one day, we became adults, and everything got a hell lot more complicated! We became “grown-ups” and the walls of normativity fell down to surround us, imprison us Imprison our thinking. Well, I say Break the walls! Break them down! Kiss that person you fancy, hold their hand Who cares? Do what makes you feel good! Be superman, be a princess, be a clown, be a robot, be an alien, be a lion, be a bear Be Santa Claus, be Peter Pan, be the fairies. Be green, be blue, be purple, be yellow, be red, be pink. But most importantly… Be you.
* I wrote this poem as part of my MA’s collaborative unit for a project promoting queer creativity last term.
