Linda M. Crate
walk in every color
i remember
they openly mocked
a gay kid on my bus
until he took his own life,
and i hated that they bullied
him but i also didn't do anything
because i hate confrontation;
i feel guilty about it sometimes still
and i told my one coworker about it,
she said "you were just a kid" but so was he; and he didn't deserve that—
after his death i told a lie to keep
myself and said that i was straighter
than an arrow—
i don't even know what that means,
but i am not an arrow but rather
a winding forest path full of many
different flowers and birds;
i have swallowed down my magic for
many moons—
now i want to walk in every color of my rainbow heart.
diverse world
i remember watching jenny's wedding with my mother, and she said that it was
interesting but i better not be a lesbian; and i couldn't help but be wounded by her
words—because while i am not a lesbian, i am also not straight; and it just made me sad
that she would think less of me over something that i had no choice in—tried to pray the
gay away, searched the cross and every window of stained glass of the church for
answers; but both remained silent and didn't convey anything—my sexuality doesn't
define me or make me any lesser than anyone else, it is just a piece of who i am; just as
the fact that i am a woman and i am fat is part of my identity so is this—i just cannot
understand the vehement hatred and intolerance for anyone or anything that's
different—society cannot see that there is beauty and diversity in the universe with all of
its many colors, foods, flowers, trees, and creatures? the whole world is so vast and full
of beauty in many shapes and forms, love is beautiful in no matter what form she takes;
and i will not listen to anyone who says that love can only look and be one way because
that's not true—love is love, and just like the universe she is a spectrum of shapes and
colors; each is beautiful as long as the love is true, respectful, kind, patient, and a
place where one can grow.
Linda M. Crate (she/her) is a Pennsylvanian writer whose poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. She has twelve published chapbooks the latest being: Searching Stained Glass Windows For An Answer (Alien Buddha Publishing, December 2022). She is also the author of the novella Mates (Alien Buddha Publishing, March 2022). Her debut book of photography Songs of the Creek (Alien Buddha Publishing, April 2023) was recently published.