Freedom in Speech

Written by K8 Qamunde Thursday, 28 July 2011 12:38

I am tired

Tired of my queer tight drawn mouth
Tired of the cruel curiosity of my post-adolescent neighbors
That peek their noses in my business
Tired of the discussions held in patois
Tired of their downright hostility towards me….us!

Tired of their wicked and sinful distractions

Their mammoth jaws cannot wait to juggle my flesh
Only in seconds…only because I am a lesbian…I am not the type anyone should conform to!

I waddle over mud on my way home
To a house that is on 24 hour surveillance
By neighbors, the police, my family, them all
To spy on the next woman I take home

In this world where
There’s no room for errors…I tiptoe carefully
Not to disturb their pretentious silence
Lest I get engaged in all manner of willy and diversionary defenses
To protect my woman and I from the wrath of this hetero normative community

I lock the doors behind us
And stealthily step into our bed
Where colors become each other and we flow into rainbows and nooses
While out there I have to put on an immovable protective mask
That will save me from their programmed hate
Or any of their chorused horrors
Channeled to a woman that lies with another
Instead of letting a man do it!

I dread their heavy handed household justice that would ensue
Once they found out that their long preserved suspicions were indeed true
Invasion is their tactic…breaking doors…invading our privacy
Throw anything they could at us…on our faces
For being an abomination to the entire human race

Strip us to our skin and frog match us outside the house
All the way to the police station
While proudly showing off the labels of homosexuality on the streets
I try to walk faster and imagine am all alone
But she’s here with me, also nude!
I cannot even say am sorry, coz am also in the mix
Children overtake to tape a peek at these adult bodies that misbehaved with no shame
Neighbors look with their mouths agape and in shock
That this Western ideology has finally docked in their community
Policemen and women whip our bodies while they silently fight the hard-ons...
Provoked by our nudity
Parents lock their adolescents in the houses and stare through windows
As we pass by, but are warned not to look lest they grow up to become US!

Swellings accumulating on our bodies that are already tired from the agony of
Being embarrassed in public
We get to the police station…at least, maybe they may give us clothes for cover
We’re locked in after all manner of mockery and insults from women and men
Old enough to be our mothers and fathers
Trying to educate us on how to behave like women…
Pitying our folks for having brought insanity to the community!

We stay in…

I’m tired
Tired of all this!
I’m tired…why would I choose to be gay if all I have to go through is crap like this?
I’m tired
But I remain the same gay woman you look at with contempt
The same one you would rather see dead
The same one whose privacy you invaded…it’s against the law
The one you thoroughly beat up and injured…locked behind bars...for being herself!