Ode to queer love
Af Dan Dudkowsk
They say it’s soft
They say it’s innocent
They say it wouldn’t hurt a fly
They say it’s sexy
They say it’s desirable
Something to be shared
Something to be kept
Away
Something to be let go of
Hide it,
Don’t show it,
Chest forward,
Hips back
But, if we listened to them
Would we even be existing
Hiding, every step of the way
To this purple heaven
And so what
If it can be hell
Sometimes
That is what I choose
That is what chose me
I choose to not run away
I choose to choose.
Just like we all do
We choose to be brave
We choose to leave our houses
Holding hands with the person, the people, we love
Some might spit on us
Some might want to hurt us
And we are not all soft
We are not all innocent
But queer love is real
It’s what keeps me alive
And I refuse
To conform
To what they say
To what they expect
Because that is no way to live
And I want to be alive
I choose to be alive
Every day of my life
And I want to make it count
By being who I am
I am just me
And I am not backing down
I will shout it in their faces
Not for them
Not for me
But for those who need the reassurance
That queer love is strong
And it’s not going anywhere
INFO
In ‘Ode to Queer Love’, Dan Dudkowsk talks about what ‘they’ say ‘it’ is – ‘they’ are non-queer people and ‘it’ is love. On the one hand, queer love is described as something innocent or desirable, while on the other, it’s something to hide away. Dudkowsk argues that if we listened to ‘them’, we would cease to exist, which is why we live bravely by being out, by holding hands with our loved ones in public, despite the hate we receive.
By choosing not to be what they say we are and expect us to be, we stay alive and real. We make life count for us by being who we are – not to spite them, and not for our own sake, but for the ones who are not able to be themselves and live their queer lives fully.
