Waxing Moon / Earthshine – A Poem

The first time I
hear someone use
‘gay’
as an insult,
my body rejects it but
my tongue—
The acrid taste of the word
pricks the inner lining of my cheek
and I try, I try, I try to
swallow the word whole
it spews from my mouth fully formed
“Yeah, that’s so gay”.
What does a seven-year-old know
about sexuality
you might ask
The answer is nothing
she knows Sailor Moon
and that’s it
she knows that good words don’t
taste bitter
she knows that Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune
are in love
and first cousins
she knows that her parents are first cousins too

 

About Rima Zalghout 1 Article
Rima Zalghout is an educator and a part-time writer from Michigan. She channels most of her energy into writing free-verse poetry about being a hyphenated human. Lately, she's been writing about being a queer Muslim.

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