"Not Just a Phase" (In Honor of National Coming Out Day!)

 I remember that feeling, I am that feeling;

    Told it was just a phase. 

I remember brushing my hair for basketball practice, for her, 

wearing my coolest neon green knee-high socks, for her, 

going to basketball practice, only for the hope of seeing her,

the hope of finding the courage to speak to her...

I was in fourth grade,

My vocabulary did not include "gay", or "queer", however,

I was a love note writer from the first moment I learned to spell. 

Passion was a feeling my young heart knew well. 

My stomach, a constant cocoon for butterflies;

cheeks, lips, and heart equally red since I was born. 

At fourth-grade basketball practice, I became acquainted with how 

the rosy blush of my cheeks was capable of glowing

in the presence of her, another her.

Heart beating faster,

I felt lucky to have my understanding of love expand.

Now as an adult, 

I feel even luckier to know,

    This Feeling;

this feeling, not just a phase.