Big dyke Energy
By Onyx Appleberry
always been just a dyke
when i was born? baby dyke
as a kid? dyke in training
as an adult? prime dyke
& when i’m dead i’ll be dusty dyke
hopefully legend dyke
i’m so dyke the dutch accidentally invented me
had to reinvent when they realized i don’t stop
floods, but start them
so dyke that i conjured the word “lesbian” when i
got tongue tied saying “let’s lick labias in libya”
so dyke i love LeBron
was LeBron on my middle school AAU team
so dyke i was on a middle school AAU team
lost my dyke once
labeled it “androgynous”
which is just a boogie, hipster name for dyke
yt gays have made an art out of bleaching blk queer
things & selling it back to us
some yt lesbian that looked like justin bieber, or
ruby rose, or katy perry, or halsey
told me that we were one in the same
i looked at her & felt all the big dyke energy that
came before me
felt sister Rosetta Tharp
felt Lorraine Hansberry
felt Angela Davis
& said “oh, you wish you had my energy. be glad
you don’t. because your body cannot furnace the
burning of dykes that died due to dykeness &
blkness & non cisness – be glad. that you do not rot
with us”
Editor’s Note: AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC) partnered with Young Chicago Authors (YCA) to feature poetry on our blog for the first time that was made by, celebratory and inclusive of our communities. AFC’s audience includes LGBTQ+ folks, HIV+ folks, Black and Brown people, everyone at those intersections and more. We invited YCA to invite its poets who were members of those communities, as well as poets who create poetry that speaks to and is celebratory of those communities to write for AFC’s blog. This is a first-ever partnership highlighting the work of young artists in our community. We’re thankful to YCA for their partnership and to the young artists who contributed to this effort. Let us know if you’d like to see more poetry on our blog by emailing [email protected]. To support YCA in its development of young artists, donate here. To connect with Onyx, follow @whatedges on Twitter and Instagram.
