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