Bruises under your eyes and mouth from telling my family about us
I kiss you better and you pretend nothing hurts
I strike them back, every one of them
I want them to ache like we do
The signs along the highway tell us that God hates us
You stop to throw up on the side of the road
You say you’re so sick of being told who hates us
When will we hear about who loves us
We want to keep all the world’s love for ourselves
The waitress in the first diner we stop at has shifty eyes
I don’t touch you so she won’t make us leave
Strawberry syrup stains your teeth sticky red like blood
It reminds me that we’re monsters pretending to be human
At least that’s how the waitress sees it when I slip up
That’s how I feel when she calls the diner family-friendly
Meaning that our mere existence is not safe for children’s eyes
Meaning we need to leave
A motel bed feels familiar but strange at the same time
It feels safer than the outside world
Outside is full of sharp things that do not want us
But the bed is simple and soft and doesn’t care about much
I want to stay here forever where life is slow and easy
You remind me that there is more to our lives than hiding
The bruises on your eyes and mouth are gone
But I can still taste the ones on your lower lip when we kiss
I know they still hurt in a way only you and I can feel
They sting in a way that only people like us can ever know
Because the world was not built for us
It was made for men who love only women and women who love only men
It was designed to trip us and then refuse to help us back up
Later it would blame us for the fall it had caused
As if we are the problem, when in reality it’s the system
Our existence isn’t poisonous to children
It’s not PG-13, not X-rated
It’s only dirty when we want it to be
Only when I want your venom and your violation and spit-slicked skin
Even then it’s purer than what people let their kids see on TV
It’s better than what those people plaster over billboards
They can publicly advertise how they have sex
Yet they’re still considered clean
We hold hands in public and we’re seen as inappropriate
Despite the pain we’re still the same
Nothing can take away our pride
Not the hot anger of fistfights
Or the cold rejection of waitresses
Our deaths on television do not deter us
This city is ugly and dirty down to the bone
But we make a home out of anything we find
We’re smarter, better, prouder, kinder
Because we do not hate love like the real monsters do
We are so much more than how we are seen by bad people
The Seven Deadly Sins of Being Gay in AmericaÂ
