Challenge
Describe how scary it can be to come out of the closet.
I blush when she says I’m gay.
And she freezes because that’s not the routine of the joke.
There’s blood in my cheeks and my hands and my vision and I laugh.
And she asks me again—
not kidding.
And I see it all.
God’s face staring down after years in a Baptist church. Mom saying she never took us to the services enough. Mammaw telling me she’d have a heart attack, Grandma mentioning that poor waiter.
Words are power; but feelings are just unfinished thoughts. I shouldn’t make concrete out of questions, so I laugh again.
The laugh is not the 17 year old laugh she knows.
She knows.
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Challenge
Write a piece comparing love to an ordinary object/event like a stapler, a board game, a shark attack, a job interview, a new car, etc.
Prose or poetry. Be innovative, original!