I've been crying again but don't worry, I’ve been trying to understand myself and my sexuality since I was young, i came out as bi just to see if the label fit but it feels too controlling and the box gets a bit smaller each time I say the word, I’ve lied to friends about hook ups that never happened and have pretended to enjoy kinks for people I'll never meet in real life. I feel a disconnect to who I'm trying to be and I don't know if I'm scared of accepting myself or if I'm scared of someone getting too close for me to learn it hurts. How do I explain to my friends that I don't understand when they complain about not being with someone for a few weeks when it's been years and how do I know when I'm telling myself the truth and when I'm picking another label, I need someone to tell me what to do but there's no one to ask so I'll keep going until I understand.

Longing
by Michael R. Burch

We stare out at the cold gray sea,
overcome
with such sudden and intense longing . . .

our eyes meet,
inviolate,
and we are not of this earth,
this strange, inert mass.

Before we crept
out of the shoals of the inchoate sea,
before we grew
the quaint appendages
and orifices of love . . .

before our jellylike nuclei,
struggling to be hearts,
leapt
at the sight of that first bright, oracular sun,
then watched it plummet,
the birth and death of our illumination . . .

before we wept . . .
before we knew . . .
before our unformed hearts grew numb,
once again,
in the depths of the sea’s indecipherable darkness . . .

When we were only
a swirling profusion of recombinant things
wafting loose silt from the sea’s soft floor,
writhing and ******* in convulsive beds
of mucousy foliage,

flowering,
flowering,
flowering . . .

what jolted us to life?

Keywords/Tags: life, evolution, love, desire, longing, passion, lust, ***, sexuality, relationship, chemistry, biology, hormones, appendages, orifices

Longing
by Michael R. Burch


We stare out at the cold gray sea,
overcome
with such sudden and intense longing . . .

our eyes meet,
inviolate,
and we are not of this earth,
this strange, inert mass.


Before we crept
out of the shoals of the inchoate sea,
before we grew
the quaint appendages
and orifices of love . . .


before our jellylike nuclei,
struggling to be hearts,
leapt
at the sight of that first bright, oracular sun,
then watched it plummet,
the birth and death of our illumination . . .


before we wept . . .
before we knew . . .
before our unformed hearts grew numb,
once again,
in the depths of the sea’s indecipherable darkness . . .


When we were only
a swirling profusion of recombinant things
wafting loose silt from the sea’s soft floor,
writhing and ******* in convulsive beds
of mucousy foliage,


flowering,
flowering,
flowering . . .


what jolted us to life?

Keywords/Tags: life, evolution, love, desire, longing, passion, lust, ***, appendages, orifices

I like boys
They can protect me from the world
A world filled with pain and betrayal
I can wear their jumpers and t shirts
I can feel safe in their arms

I like girls
They can make me smile and forget
Forget about the tears I’ve shed
They can wear my perfume and rings
I can feel loved when holding hands

There’s nothing wrong with that, right?
All I want is love and protection
To date the pretty girls
To date the bad boys

Yet, I still get hate
To society I don’t exist
My sexuality isn’t valid
Its. Just. A. Phase

They call me greedy
They say I’m confused
Just pick, they say
Bisexuality isn’t a thing

Jokes on them
I won’t pick a side
God said Adam and Eve
So, I did both

When I was small there were Boys and Girls,
and bisexual and gay were risque worlds.
Now, there are flavours for every taste.
Are we all, secretly, sybarites and epicureans...?

In the center of the strawberry is  
hollow

in your ears echoes
the budding want licks

sweet from her tongue

Her desire is the force of a thousand arrows
fogging the valley beneath my navel.

Her hair is feathered,
feasting on my stomach or
what's left of my body as she swallows
my *** whole.

I am a woman
with a defective gene
living beyond expectation
I am more than an illness

I am a man
whose skin is shaded
refusing to be excluded
I am not just a black

I am a woman
wearing modest clothing
respecting my faith
I am more than a hijab

I am a man
who is proudly
owning my sexuality
I am not just a gay

I am a person
who is more than just labels
defining my what
or who I am

I am a woman
I am a man
I am a person
I am a noun
I am not your adjectives
I am my own
I am me
I am