Poem contribution

[BuffyLovesWillow Owner <kacoe@xxxxxxx>]

With all the wonderful poetry scampering about on the list, I figured I'd share something
I wrote a few years ago. It was published locally in a gay and lesbian magazine and I was
a speaker at the New Jersey Pride Festival at PNC Bank Arts Center where i read this and a
few other of my poems that have been published.

So while I'm tipping my hand here so to speak and revealing that I'm a published writer,
it really shouldn't dwarf the fact that this poem is important to me. Had I the
opportunity to share it publicly in a forum like this when I was seventeen, I would have
done so.

Disclaimer: I own it. I've made money off of it. Copyright belongs to me. If you wish
to display this anywhere, you need express written permission from the author. Me.





Normal
Look at me . . .I mean really see ME and what I personify
I AM BEAUTIFUL!
You need to realize I have within me, the potential to
run . . . dance . . . live . . . laugh . . .
LOVE . . .
as long as you allow me the opportunity.
I need someone who is a reflection of who I am in every
conceivable . . . beautiful . . . mesmerizing
SENSUAL way.
Don't pass up the chance to know me simply because
I AM DIFFERENT.
I am not accepted by most people, true,
But I am REAL, I am not alone,
and I am not going away.
I am the embodiment of one out of every ten people you
see . . . feel . . . touch . . . taste . . . hurt
HATE . . .
Everyone is capable of hating things they don't understand,
things they are afraid of noticing DEEP within the recesses of their own souls.
BUT . . . I need you to try to understand me and why I am
UNCONVENTIONAL!!!
deemed a deviant of SOCIETY -
told that what I feel is IMMORAL -
rejected even before I was afforded the chance
to put my foot in my mouth -
or my fist in the air -
or hold my head high . . .
or stand here and just feel what I am going to feel,
just because I need to feel SOMETHING - ANYTHING
Whether you like it or not, because most times
it's better than feeling nothing at all.
I suppose I just want the opportunity
at being conceived of as
almost
but not quite
N O R M A L.
Allow me the chance to be what I want to be
even if your faking it.
Because the truth is,
most people will NEVER know the difference.

Copyright 1997 TheScribe