Editor's note: This is part of our Queer Love Letters series, where we asked our community to help in spreading joy this Pride season. Learn how to share a love letter here!
To my community and myself:
I write poems to remind myself that it is not hopeless. There is joy and we can always find it.
We exist. We are here.
It is not hopeless.
Love, Olly
Bloodlines
I wonder how I can feel hopeful
When the tide seems to keep pulling us under
I ground myself when the corners of the room pull in
Feel the force of the world pushing against my feet
Holding me up, the soil spilling into my soul
I taste the iron of all those who came before me
Enveloping me in their resistance, pushing me out
I close my eyes, surrender the sharp pieces of me
They take them and return to me seeds
Lips brush my cheeks as I kneel to plant
They cannot take our tomorrows forever
Growing Pains
I choose to love myself today
I fold the clothes,
I let the dishes dry,
I take my time.
I ignore the voice that tells me
“It’s not enough”
I count the circles
And cry in bathroom stalls
When I come up for air
The world is softer and
My friends are here.
