SHINE
Wendy DeGroat is an educator, poet, and UU from Virginia who advocates for equality and believes that standing on the side of love can transform the world.
Shine
What if being gay made you glitter?
Some of us would burst from the womb sparkling
Others shine brighter as our awareness grew
What would you do?
Would you shroud your radiance in dark folds
Shrink from the sun
Scrub and claw this cellular luminosity
Or would you stand glowing with face upturned
Invite the light deeper
Seek kinship with others aglitter as you
What would the less lucent do?
Would they ban glitter from school crafts
Shun resplendence as sin
Denounce and outlaw illuminating unions
Or would they step closer to the shimmering
Claim the glistening in their lives
Bless the beaming as brother and sister
If being gay made you glitter
Sparkle fused to skin like mica in granite
How would you impart light on each path you walk?
What would be revealed in the gleaming?
Thank you so very much for this poem. It really hits home and it is something everyone should think about. I love the last line “What would be revealed in the gleaming?”
Kudos, love, and blessed be.
Oh my gosh this is beautiful. Felt I had to share it when I read it so I emailed the poem and link to a few friends. Hope it makes an impact on them like it did for me.
so lovely and affirming!! i am humbled by this…perhaps this piece could be used for anyone hiding their light…ie “What if being ________ made you glitter?”