girls are not kitchen knives
This is a poem about navigating friendships in pre-dominantly straight communities. It's always tricky considering the stigma that surrounds lesbians. The poet has prided herself on being a good lesbian, but despite many of us putting others comfort over ours in fear of not being accepted, allyship is still not a guarantee.
high school is filled with sugary gargoyles
straight girls and self-appointed allies
people who love me as long as i’m a good lesbian
people who love me as long as i don’t point out
that it’s a privilege to hold hands in public
i stare at parallel train tracks
was i always not straight
or did the universe make me bent?
loving girls has never been a weekend job or a pastime
i was never inaugurated to become a lesbian either
but they always ask,
how old were you when you found out?
as if the act of loving is comparable
to the diagnosis of a disease
maybe the world would function better with manuals
then everyone would know that girls aren't kitchen knives,
and neither are lesbians
then i wouldn't have to reintroduce myself
to a world that shifts continuously
then maybe my straight friends
wouldn't make jokes like, "are you lesbian or are you normal?"
then i wouldn't have to explain that some jokes aren't yours to make
but this world has been conditioned
to equate "normal" with "good"
and lesbians with predators
and girls with kitchen knives
Written by Latifa Sekarini (she/her)
IG: @tofuisi
Edited by Keyatta Brooks (she/her)
Graphic by Maya Swift (she/her)
IG: @mayaisabelaswift