What the Wind Knows

What the Wind Knows

I heard the wind blow today

It spoke of parades and ad campaigns

of limited-edition sneakers and hashtags

of influencer marketing and collectables

of carefully curated categories now streaming

I heard the wind blow today

It spoke of colloquial catchphrases like

“It gets better” and “Rainbows reign”

Lovely acceptable utterances like

“Free mom hugs” and “Majority doesn’t exist”

I heard the wind blow today

It spoke of the end of the month

of streetsweepers collecting the confetti

of hashtags of hate

of gaslighting and funny looks

of wolves in sheep’s clothing

I heard the wind blow today

It spoke of my anxiety and my awkwardness

0f my future sorrows and my past regrets

of not being the right shape

of not fitting in a box

of hard times and ignorant minds

But the wind doesn’t know what I know

The wind doesn’t know that

parades only exist on paved roads or that

it gets better because of those who made it better

The wind doesn’t know

Harvey Milk, Josephine Baker

Hulleah Tsinhnahjinnie, James Baldwin

Bayard Rustin, Ernestine Ekstine

Gilbert Baker, Nikki Giovanni

Alvin Ailey, Lorraine Hansberry or

any of the names that make the bricks

in my Stonewall

The wind doesn’t know that

my awkwardness is my art

my solitude is my blank canvas

my shape is my escape

no box is worthy of me

The wind doesn’t know

that comfort and convenience are not my goals

or that my pride exceeds a 30-day grace period

I heard the wind blow today

and today the wind heard me