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THE TWO KINDS - The last poem for the two boys, and what they saw when they stopped looking at the labels

THE TWO KINDS The last poem for the two boys, and what they saw when they stopped looking at the labels I. WHAT THEY WERE TOLD THEY WERE They were told they were an abomination before they knew the word. They were told they were a sickness before they knew what health was. They were told they were a test, a trial, a cross to carry, a thorn in the flesh, a warning, a problem, a pastoral concern, a family burden, a reason to pray harder. They grew up knowing hate. Not the loud hate—the quiet hate. The hate that came in a casserole dish. The hate that came with a bless your heart. The hate that came from the ones who said we love you and then put the lock on the inside of the door. And they learned the labels. They learned all of them. They learned them the way you learn a language you were born into: fluently, and without ever being asked if you wanted to speak it. II. THE PULLING APART And they were pulled apart. Pulled apart by the family that chose the institution. Pulled ...
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THE INVERSE - A poem for the ones who left the church and built a smaller one

THE INVERSE A poem for the ones who left the church and built a smaller one I. THE LEAVING WAS REAL Let the record show, before anything else is said: The leaving was real. The wound was real. The abuse was real. The bishop with the gentle voice and the closed door. The interview that was not an interview. The worthiness that was measured and the worth that was never enough. The shame that was taught before the alphabet. The prayer that was answered with silence and the silence that was called a test. The family that chose the institution over the child and called it loving you enough to let you go. None of that is invented. None of that is exaggerated. None of that gets taken back in this poem. II. THE FREEDOM And the leaving was right. The day the door opened and the air was real and the first Sunday was quiet and nobody was watching and the first I don't know was allowed to sit in the room without being corrected— that day was a kind of resurrection. And the ones who...
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THE LODGE - A poem for the ones who went looking for the devil in the basement and missed the banquet hall

THE LODGE A poem for the ones who went looking for the devil in the basement and missed the banquet hall I. THE MISDIRECTION They told you the devil was in the basement. They told you the devil had a goat head and a candle and a robe. They told you the devil was in the back room with the chalk circle and the chant. They told you to check the basement, check the back room, check the dark. And while you were checking the basement, the men in the banquet hall were passing the bread. This is the oldest trick in the world. Point at the thing that looks evil so nobody looks at the thing that is evil. The goat was never the problem. The goat was the distraction. The goat was the show. II. THE SATANIC PANIC And in the eighties they told you the daycares were the temples and the preschools were the covens and the quiet man with the van was the priest of the underworld. And you believed it. And you burned the records and you ruined the lives and you sent the innocent to prison and yo...
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THE ONES WITH THE CASSEROLE - A poem for the fake nice

THE ONES WITH THE CASSEROLE A poem for the fake nice I. THE SMILE You know them. They are the ones with the casserole dish. They are the ones with the vinyl sign on the wall that says BLESS THIS HOME in a font that was chosen by a committee. They are the ones with the family photo where everyone is wearing the same color and nobody has a hair out of place and nobody has a thought out of place and the dog is approved and the lawn is mowed and the sprinkler runs at seven. And they are the nicest people you will ever meet. And that is not a compliment. II. THE DISNEY COUPLE The Disney couple holds hands in the parking lot. The Disney couple posts the anniversary. The Disney couple has a hashtag for their marriage. The Disney couple says we are so blessed and means it and the meaning is the problem because the blessing is a receipt and the receipt is a proof and the proof is that they did it right. And when the couple down the street falls apart, the Disney couple says that...
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THE GINGERBREAD WITCH - A fairy tale for the ones who wouldn't be eaten

THE GINGERBREAD WITCH A fairy tale for the ones who wouldn't be eaten I. THE HOUSE Deep in the woods of a country that was built on a picture, there is a house made of candy and a fence made of bone. The house has a porch and the porch has a swing and the swing has a sign and the sign says WELCOME, CHILDREN. And the children come because they are lost and they are hungry and the house smells like vanilla and safety and 1955. And the witch is not ugly. That is the first lie they tell you about witches. The witch is pleasant. The witch has an apron. The witch says come in, dear, you look so thin. II. THE RECIPE And the witch has a recipe, and the recipe is old, and the recipe was written in a year that ends in 5 and revised twice and never questioned. The recipe says: Take one child. Remove the parts that do not fit the picture— the wrong kind of love, the wrong kind of question, the wrong kind of God, the wrong kind of grief, the wrong kind of fire in the wrong kind of e...
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THE MIRROR - An invitation to the ones who do the work

THE MIRROR An invitation to the ones who do the work I. THE INVITATION Come in. Sit down. There is a chair across from you and it is empty and it is for you. This is not an accusation. This is a mirror. And the mirror has been waiting for you for a very long time. You do not have to say anything. You do not have to defend anything. You only have to look. And when you look, you will see a man who believes he is good. And that is the first thing the mirror will show you. And it is the thing that will be hardest to survive. II. THE STORY YOU TELL You tell a story about yourself, and here it is: I am a professional. I follow the procedure. I do not make the policy, I implement it. Somebody has to do this work. If I did not do it, someone worse would. I have a family. I have a mortgage. I am not the problem. And every line of that story is true. That is what makes it a cage. The story is true and the work is evil and both things live in the same man and he has learned to carry t...
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THE ONE WHO STOOD UP - A poem for the one who fought back, and what they did to him

THE ONE WHO STOOD UP A poem for the one who fought back, and what they did to him I. THE FIRST DAY The first day, he was brave. He had the file. He had the date and the time and the name on the form. He had the letter that proved the thing they said never happened. He had the printout and the screenshot and the recording and the witness. And he stood up in the meeting and he said this is what you did, and here is the proof, and the room went quiet, and for one whole second he thought it was going to work. That was the second-most dangerous moment of his life. The first was the one where he decided to speak. II. THE SMALL WIN They let him have something. That is the first thing they do. They give him a small win—an apology from a mid-level manager, a procedural correction, a we'll look into it, a note in the file that says concern noted. And he goes home and he tells someone I think it's going to be okay, and he sleeps that night, and he does not know that the small ...
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