Poetry: From the Outside

by AJ DeVito

The Worthy

The patriotic flag waves boldly through the wind with immense pride,
exuding the exuberance of a nation exalting the beauty of the inside,
she and he walk methodically forward as one unit in common bravery,
defending the country they as a citizen call home in service for our military.

Wait, stop, and hold it right there before you may know the honor this bestows,
first we must investigate to make sure you are worthy by seeing if anyone knows,
if you are the marginal, odd, and abnormal abomination that is what we call gay,
still you will tell even if we say we do not ask as our law of the land is day by day.

Sacrifice of your life for the nation you love is a mere second thought,
no matter how dedicated and strong this woman or man might be in heart,
yet in a world of justice and integrity we know he or she is the truly worthy,
despite the hand of oppression the call to serve their country is still sturdy.

The gay woman or man soliders onward anyway because this is what they love,
even when the very country they fight for turns out not to be a peaceful dove.
Change is the movement of forward and never backward in a recognition of unity,
to find the inner strength to bring the liberty and justice lacking for the many.

The worthy lesbians and gay men of the United States military must always internalize
that they too deserve the dignity and civil rights they fight for abroad for us to externalize.

Husband and Husband

Frosting would line the circular outer edges of a massive strawberry wedding cake,
as the family continues to finish plans of the happy day for the dear couple's sake.
Flowers create the fragrance of freshness and connection to the earth we call home,
as the wedding planner frantically runs about the hall permanently on the cell phone.

Typical wedding karaoke music needed to be placed on hold afterall for the reception,
in the wake of another ballot which took it all away with our hope's dashed deception.
The bumper sticker slogan silenced the music, happiness, and our joyous celebration,
we would have to put the delicious stawberry cake in the fridge in California and Maine again.

Bells and whistles are the romantic things which add to the depth of our love we wish to share,
in common recognition of the relationship which is equally valid as a civil marriage is fair.
Dignity and equality are neither foolish or light things to attempt to attain when denied,
because we confer those two things upon ourselves when standing up and not being defied.

How can society continue to deny a fundamental happiness to so many people?
Why can they not open their eyes to see the love they so consciously try not to see?
The mixture of life components bring our social worlds into collision whether we like it or not,
which is why we must see and hear things as they are instead of as we want them to be.

Two grooms, two brides, or a groom and bride may be on top of the stawberry wedding cake,
but the equality of love, recognition, and good baking that went into the loving care is not fake.

Beaten, Not Broken

Tears stream down his face from the pain of the wound on his head,
the emergency room is bright with light and loud with the sound of dread.
Thoughts of the incident keep pacing through his mind as he waits for his turn,
attempting to piece it all together for the Doctor and authorities to learn.

Hatred is a malevolent presence that originates from the very specific teaching,
that this specific person is to be marginalized and denied what they are seeking.
Understanding cannot be gained from a mind that has been closed by prejudice,
in which the beginning of an expanded hatred rises to create powerful injustice.

Sweat pours from his forehead as flashes of the event replay in his sad mind,
recounting the hate crime for being gay that left his hurt in a state of rewind.
He felt like a part of his identity had already died which was floating upward,
in a far off and high place detatched from the intense pain on earth downward.

Why did he hit me over the head with that baseball bat?
How could he hate me enough to cause me physical harm just for being gay?
The answers to the questions posed are found within the social disease of hatred,
carried on as overt prejudice that manifests itself like an infection that is spread.

From the Outside

Humanity seeks a common thread of knowledge as a reference point for all to commence,
the movement forward of a united pupose to create a peace that is worth all our defense.
This view from the outside is not a self-determined choice that one can systemtically renounce,
without the loss of self-worth, identity, and the sense of self which we would all denounce.

Individualism permeates the discourse of the United States cultural dialogue,
even as it punishes the unique manifestation of the human condition as if we were a catalogue,
where a 'one size fits all' approach robs us of the very diversity our nation says it treasures,
we are told to watch these events from the outside as an outsider by their sayings and measures.

Clarity is derived from sitting on the outside because you are able to peer into the spin,
seeing all of the grandeur of the propoganda for what it is, does, and it's a game we don't win.
For the competition of ideas all too often lacks what the true impact of such issues will be,
in the honest context with which they are to be applied by leaders who themselves do not see.

Intelligence is found from being placed to the outside by a society who does not understand you,
for they ironically give you the ability to see the big picture without privelage as those who do.
It is the energy of questioning authority that gives credence to the hope for a better future,
in which those placed on the outside for shallow reasons will no longer have hardships to endure.

From the outside you learn to find and stand in your own truth with a quiet courage
that reminds you to never give up the struggle to make it better for all- on the outside and inside.