Liberation Notice

Baltimore, 1955

Your Mom caught you with a boy

Now she wants to talk

She said "Son, are you having problems?"

"No Mom, no problems"

"Well if it feels like a problem, let me know"

And that was your liberation notice

From that day on you lived unafraid

Flamboyant and out

Singing without shame

Songs that I needed to hear

But I wouldn't be born for years

Suburban Kansas, 1995

I said "Mom, when I grow up, can I be a boy?"

She said, "Some people do that, but it's messed up.

Normal people never would"

And that was my survival notice

From that day on I knew to hide

Angry and scared, desperate to share

Songs that I needed to sing

Wouldn't find my voice for years

I saw you play a show in 2017

Of your dirty songs about boys from the 70's

And I didn't know how much I needed old queer songs

And I…

I was grateful just to meet you

Online open mic, 2020

We're both playing our songs, and listening

I realized you're certain that you deserved

More acceptance than you got

And that was my liberation notice

Every day since then I do my best

To tell my stories, sing them without shame

Songs that I need to share

And know the future needs to hear