What pride?

GIDRAF MWANGI 1992 (Murang'a)



A gay mood is in the air
Lesbians and bisexuals are hand in hand
Transgenders are answering the questioners
And a gaggle of pluses are in giggles

While they march in pride
I shamefully hunker in my closet
Tightly bound in self-censorship straitjacket
I cannot move an inch let alone marching

While they flaunt their rainbow colors
I am busy washing away mine
Lest I stand out or be seen
And suffer the wrath for the unwanted

While they bask in the open
Free and without fear
I jump from shadow to shadow
Having been marked as shoot on sight

They say to have pride in being different
But they refuse to recognise mine
My name is so taboo
Even the anonymous '+' does not cover me

Locked away in the skeletal closet of the society
I am denied the right to parade in the open
Denied any initials to hide my shame
The measly '+' might just as well be a '-'

About this poem

A dedication to all those poor souls locked out of the LGBTQ+ umbrella. To all those societal pariahs whose only crime was being born. To all those whose living is a life sentence. To the living dead.

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Submitted by GIDRAF on December 29, 2022

Modified on March 05, 2023

50 sec read
2

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXAX XBBX ACXX DXXX XCXE EDXX
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 856
Words 168
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

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    "What pride?" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/147203/what-pride?>.

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