Straddling
Between the parallel lines of convention
He balances
A spectre steadying
Only to fall headlong –
A mishap of flight.
Like a parakeet on tenterhooks
Wings clipped,
Head low,
Flitting, and halting, along the steely tracks
Fumbling about to soar –
Beyond a world flooded with beliefs
Cast in iron
Before his journey even begun
All he longs is just to fly…….
Out
Of decades pendulating between yeses and nos
Just 1989
In Denmark
He exchanged rings with his dearest – draped in happiness
The time has come
To stand up tall and high
To hold love – firmly in his hands
“I do” has never articulated such tenderness.
June 2016
In Orlando
He weeps….
So weary and drained of fight
The gall squished
As his heart thumps with fear
Gunshots ripping him apart
Because
“I’m not like you”
Today
To the brim it all spurts –
Spilling onto the decades of iron tracks
Relentless, rigid and rigorous.
His doubts, his grief and anger
Spew –
The innards of despair
Fizzled in your hand and mine
Together, hand in hand
Rolled out into a splendid rainbow of
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet
He steps
gingerly
onto that rainbow carpet
Stretched out far into the sky
long and infinite
He flies
Aglow in that colourful victory
Screaming
“I have arrived”.
“I have arrived,
To reach the point where the parallel tracks
Meet
Coming to a blissful acknowledgment
Of my colourful badges
Slowly recognized
Through those years of oblivion
I have travelled
On this journey so far and wide
To reunite.”
A dear friend is living his truth and using his art to explore his fears, and materializing various aspects of himself in spite of it. The poem is a response to the many news articles I’ve read about gay marriages and the Orlando shootings, as well as all the courageous projects my friend has been consistently working on. He could be you, and you could be me. Courage inspires courage – need I say more? Find out more about Ming Poon’s project Hold My Hand here:
https://www.facebook.com/holdmyhand.mingpoon/