happy Pride (without the compulsory sexuality)
when desire isn't promised for Pride or for any other month of the year. affirmations from the femme loneliness epidemic.
your Pride can & will be a beautiful & meaningful one—even if the foursomes aren’t happening or the dates aren’t happening or the dms aren’t bursting or the calls aren’t coming through or the texts have gone silent or you’ve lost interest in grindr or hinge or lex or you are your own dance partner at the queer function or nothing lesbian happens to you this year or no t4t makeouts enter your orbit or sexual attraction and/or activity is nonexistent or accessible, clean air, masked events for Pride are nonexistent.
still:
may your hips groove freely to Black gay house jams—even if only in your room.
may your fits always feel like the perfect fit.
may you receive your flowers for consistently serving your community with your magnetic aura.
may your mind expand with big queer thoughts, theories, imaginations.
may you connect with living and dead queer/transcestors through their own words or their own images.
may you write your own interdisciplinary narrative with ease & clarity.
may you feel free enough to try on new pronouns or aesthetics. may you be fiercely protected in them.
may you be protected by your resounding refusal, your cunty steadfastness, your mandatory authenticity.
may being vulnerable (derogatory) never find you.
may choosing vulnerability (positive) set you free.
may you feel compelled to chase after “your own lush self.”1
may you still experiment with living an erotic and somatically-sound life; it is your only one, wild and precious.2
“eve’s version,” Lucille Clifton
“The Summer Day,” Mary Oliver