You Only Mentioned What "I Am"
ou Only Mentioned What “I Am”
By Kelsea Thompson
Dear….
Barcode
why should I be a copycat
I’m told not to be copycat
but then when I’m not
no one wants to be my friend
what if I don’t want to grow up and be like oprah
or marilyn
or taylor swift
or michi
or cherie
or...
why was my list limited to women?
dear dad..
I have one question
why do I have to an idol
when I said my idol was myself
why did you smirk and tell me to keep looking
dear America
when did our humanity get put on sale
dear girl
disney forgot to teach you that your knight and shining armor
may have breasts and a vagina
dear guy
I’m sorry you’re taught to provide for me
I’m sorry we asked you to be a man
dear family
you forgot to mention
about non binary identity
you forgot to mention gender vs sexuality
but you didn’t forget to tell me
about the church I should grow up in and what “man” I should marry
and how my clothes identified whether I was a “good person”
and you didn’t forget to tell me
what specific person I should be
dear teachers
why’d you keep asking me about “when i grow up”
I forgot to be a kid
dear skinny and dear curves
dear friends who weren’t really friends
dear depression
dear anxiety
dear meds
dear suicide
i forgot to mention how i was confused when we romanticized you
dear brother
dear uncle
dear sister
dear friend
dear peer
dear partner
I love you
dear high school
that girl in the locker room you snickered at for being bi
she wasn’t looking at me
or you
dear straight people
why do YOU feel uncomfortable
next to that trans teen we all knew about
because it’s disgusting
that you don’t have to announce that you’re straight
but we all knew about the lesbian couple holding hands
dear society
why isn’t sexuality normal yet?
why do I keep asking
about the exceptions to our acceptance
why must we label everything
why am I not normal yet
why can’t we be happy
why do I have to be identified
why do I have to be like so-and-so
why are you turning away from me
why aren’t you paying attention to me
why are you laughing
dear me
they just forgot to mention to find you
they forgot to tell you that they’d love you
while you found yourself
dear me
the phrase “I am….”
scares the crap out of you
because saying “I am…”
means you have a label
you don’t have to answer
dear people
I don’t know who you are
and I definitely don’t know who I am
because everyone forgot to mention
we would still be accepted