At the Gates

hello gatekeeper

may I pass into my own country?

or have your standards become too strict?

am I too fat, too ugly, too unmanly to go safely?

am I too poor to buy your pass?

could I bribe my way in somehow?

become a plus-one to the gatekeepers?

a guest in my own home... my own bed?

the suggestion is subtle, delivered with smiles

that I don't belong here in my own plazas

small coded messages written in shame

over makeup and nail varnish

as if I'm the one wearing a mask

pretending at gender

while you desperately clasp at the keys

to the doors of man and woman and other

-o0o-

Briefly: Fireflies

Illuminate: they burnt,
Like the most brief fireflies.
A star burnt up in a second,
Blinding to every eye.
And they asked,
“Was it worth it?”
But there came no answer,
Just the echo of burnt smiles.

-o0o-