Reality or Imitation?

Is it really so far from the truth?

Simple encounters blown up to carry the viewer

along on a brain-drip-dry adventure.

Moments so intimate and private projected

on a big screen and heightened for drama.

 

Gay kids were always being disowned,

sent to “straight camps”, committing

suicide, falling for straight people.

 

Sometimes that screen separates things too much.

These things seemed to only happen behind

those little specks of red, green, and blue.

 

Unplug and turn off the screen, join the world,

and see all learned of homosexuality this way

has been turned into something ridiculous,

but also reveals what hating them can do.

 

Look and see:

 

A boy lies in the hospital, catheter in place,

speaking softly and sweetly into the phone

as a distant friend, the only one that cared

that night, says she will be his family.

(His won’t hear he ate the pills…)

 

Or:

 

A girl makes gay jokes, puts down “butch”

women, says she is the only real lesbian,

because how could someone be so different,

both gay and dress more masculine?

(Self-hate, she doesn’t even know it…)

 

And:

 

A fohawk shines on a boy’s proud head,

designer clothes ringing out his feminine side.

He curses the bisexual that has joined the room,

for she could never really be on his team,

she may go back to the others.

(Minorities within minorities…)

Finally:

In the junior high locker room a girl tries

to trace patterns on the tiled floor, maybe

playing Tetris with the  various shapes,

so she won’t connect the freckled dots

on the girls’ backs around her.

(If they knew, they would hate her…)

 

Each could be a storyline in a teen drama

created for public TV, maybe so simple it

only lasts a season. Yet here they are,

they were real, I know them all.

Author's Note

Just me messing around with different ways to write. I hadn't known much about homosexuality outside of television until after high school. The biggest shock for me was how real the horrendous situations depicted on the screen could be.

Reviews

[Devons]

What is being intimated within this poem is very very true and is put across with intelligent experience and understanding. It is even quite amusing at times..
"she may go back to the others."... for instance, is a very funny line about how some people are jealous of their gender cult and others play around with it, not having really found naturally their own sexual identity... Like a trend.
The important point of comparison that is made between reality and histrionic portrayal on screen is quite significant in the modern era... All kinds of types are stereotyped and distanced from how life really is: it may seem funny (as I found some of this poem) but in reality it is not quite as wooly and reassuring. The same goes for many other differences between human characteristics. The problem occurs when people mistake entertainment for reality and misunderstand what is really truth - and also there are many who become influenced by the media and start behaving like the cliches they see on the screen...
An intelligent and incisive piece of work. The human imagery is very effective and conveys the message very well. From a technical side it is also a quality poem.

[TTBoy28]

I could actually hear and see this as someone monologue. When I read this, I think of "My So Called Life" with Claire Danes. I really like this! Did you mean to write "mohawk" instead of "fohawk" - and "...bringing out his feminine side...?" Very cool write! Thank you.

[Dutch Jr.]

Homosexuality was characterized in a real-world scenario well in this poem; we learn a lot about homosexuals through the tube, but it does happen in real life. And the television did seem to separate the two: reality or just script?

Another thing you point to is: does the influence the tube has over sexuality affect the mids of the people? Or is it occuring regardless? I think homosexuality occurs in a society without television. It's become a part of our culture, which is shaped by the media, but carried by the people.

[Sara]

lemme say 'yes!' to this poem here... so often i roll my eyes at the melodramatic, gay-centered storylines on tv ('dawson's creek' comes immediately to mind), but there is such truth to them underneath all the crazy dialogue and silly intrigues... the drama is *real*, the writers aren't just making it up, s**t like that does happen to *actual* people. it's such a weird coincidence to be reading this now, because i watched a documentary about homosexual discrimination the other day, and was so horrified at how blatant and accepted it still is, especially in small towns across america (thank god, i grew up in a city is all i have to say...). i mean, something is so wrong with us as a country when people keep spouting that crap after the civil rights and women's rights movements of the 60s -- haven't we grown? haven't we learned *anything* from our mistakes? it's so stupid and frustrating to label ourselves the land of freedom and equality, and then turn around and see such bigoted behavior... wtf, people??!! (ok, off my soap box now, though i could probably rant some more on that...) i think your poem shows great humanity and tenderness... i like how you keep your subjects anonymous (just 'a boy', 'a girl'), like they could be anybody out there, you, me, whoever... the way you ended those stanzas with the little parenthetical sidenotes is just heartbreaking ('if they knew, they would hate her...' -- jeez, what a terrible, utterly truthful line)... i have to say, i think the separate, miniature stories you tell of each kid are ten times more powerful than the telenovela bullcrap churned out by tv writers each year; it's definitely more real, more relatable, its simplicity gives it more seriousness and weight. fantastic poem on a compelling subject. great job!

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

My brother is gay and I am in full support of him... just like races we are still all humans and bleed red... I get tired of people treating homosexuality like a disease or life style choice... they are born this way and I for one believe it is God's way of testing our compassion and for the most part humanity fails still. I say bravo on this outstanding poem.