seen from Malaysia
seen from Hong Kong SAR China
seen from France
seen from Singapore
seen from Malaysia
seen from Netherlands
seen from Romania
seen from Singapore
seen from China
seen from Malaysia
seen from Italy
seen from Germany
seen from Australia
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Australia
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
the sunlight today touched me just like. i wanted it to and still does as i remain here lying. with the grass blades against my arms like obscure lovers. i have never been in love. the sunlight, its warmth. rippling against my light-ached flesh. what i was proud of.
Joanna Cleary, from “After Pride,” published in Glass
San Jose, Costa Rica - 2019
Random man passing me in the street: I wish I was colour blind today
Me wearing my rainbow flag after attending pride: bitch the fuck?
My friend, who was also attending pride: that's a yikes from me!
After Pride Ends/Life Interlude
Pride is loud and gloriously
gay gay gay gay gay.
But there’s a slow
Agonizing reality that happens after Pride ends
And the party is over, and the patrons are no longer drunk
On acceptance, but quickly sober up in the cold shower
That is a heteronormative world.
On a rail car traveling East
A gay man rolls up a small
Rainbow flag,
Tucks it away into a
Backpack of secrets.
Another closet that houses a part of his sexuality.
A lesbian couple shifts
Uncomfortably visibly shrinking
Themselves every time a
Drunken man gets near.
I sit in my seat across
From Aphrodite incarnate.
She’s wiping away her tears
As if to wipe away
The pounds of food she fears
She’ll gain from the fried food
She just shared with me.
It breaks me to see her
Hate herself for living
Instead she counts her beauty
And worth on a scale.
I want to pull her to me
And tell her she is the
Reason that people
Are compared to that
Word we call beauty.
But this isn’t about me!
On a train car going East
I feel my heart break
With unease as Aphrodite’s
Goddess unfolds in front of me
And I’m left with her human.
No, her woman.
A gay man erases
Himself because he can’t
Exist in the comfort of his
Own home.
A lesbian couple
Feels like they might
Be the victims of
Many possible assaults
From the male riders
In the car.
I sit and watch
As a protector
A queer woman
A woman pining for
The heart of another
Torn apart.
This is life
After Pride
And I just want to go home!
-Weird Kid
linda gregg from “staying after” / mary oliver from "toad" / joanna cleary from “after pride” / lloyd schwartz from “leaves” / simone weil from “gravity and grace” / natalie diaz from “skin-light” / mary oliver from “blue iris” / mati diop from “atlantique” / margaret atwood from “daguerreotype taken in old age” /
Last weekend my boyfriend and I went to Nashville Pride. It was fun. We both got sunburned and had a blast. We got to watch Wilson Philips from the front row and meet a lot of really awesome people…
Office #3
First thing my boss asked my this morning:
"So what’s your hair color ??!”
Last Saturday was Pride London. And I still have rainbows on my arms.
