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The Black Flamingo

Page 98

by Dean Atta

and light of foot, wondered

if gay meant the same to him

as it did to me, wondered

if man was in mind or body.

Because I wear my man,

strip down bare to my man.

In the mirror, there, I am.

For me, man has merely been

a matter of circumstance,

not a journey or discovery.

I rarely had to fight for it,

rarely want to fight against it,

never wanted to shed skin

to reveal somebody else.

I never questioned it until

he said, “Some men have vaginas.”

I understood it to be true

but it left me feeling nothing

more than a tool, who knew

nothing about being a man

outside his own body.

I feel like Goldilocks:

trying to find a group of people

the perfect fit for me.

A group that’s “just right.”

I didn’t feel black enough

for African Caribbean Society,

I didn’t feel Greek enough

for Hellenic Society,

I didn’t feel queer enough