On a Soul Level: A Poem About Loving The Person, Not The Gender
The first time I met and liked someone before their gender wasn’t confusing. It wasn’t a wildfire. It was simply a spark.
I was interested in their thoughts and heart. How they blended tarot, astrology, and poetry all together. How they embodied those same principles even though their genderfluid body fought against countless bigotry and hate.
My heart flipped when they jokingly said, “I could love you, her [meaning me, the author], anyone regardless of what’s in their pants,” when you were explaining your sexuality to someone who could not understand why he was attracted to you or how.
Occasionally, their name flips into the leaderboard of my brain when I think about all the ones who got away.
But it’s okay. Because at least now I know what love should feel like. Because now, I know that it isn’t about their appearances, but their hearts and minds and intuition.
Now I seek people for their kindness, patience, emotional intelligence, maturity. Now I am finding so many people who light multiple sparks. And I am in love with all my friends. I am in love for the first time not because I want to feel love, be loved.
It’s simply because good real love follows suit when you’re happy. Which makes me so happy to say,
everything is just pure icing.
you, before all else
I did not fall for
what you were called—
not boy, not girl, not any
of the names stitched onto
the seams of your clothes.
I fell for your tender
laugh, and how it lit the dark
corners of my Tuesday evening.
For how your silence would
become my symphony and calmed
my own chaos.
Your hands carried no names.
They just held me. Your lips were not
gendered. They were petals both soft and
rebellious and spoke the truth under rib &
ritual.
I do not need a definition for
how and why I love. To remember the
multitudes of your presence, no matter where
I went.
Love, to me,
was never about boxes.
It was always the door passage
to infinite rooms. To even more forever
stirrings.
If you want to, you can write your own poem about how that certain someone makes you feel. What you notice about them that makes things stir within you.
After all, the world needs more love poems now more than ever.
Happy poeting!
