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Denice Frohman - "Dear Straight People" (WOWPS 2013)

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    Dear Straight People,
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    Who do you think you are?
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    Do you have to make it so obvious that I make you uncomfortable?
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    Why do I make you uncomfortable?
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    D'you know that makes me uncomfortable?
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    Now we're both uncomfortable.
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    Dear Straight People,
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    You're the reason we stay in the closet.
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    You're the reason we even have a closet.
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    I don't like closets,
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    but you made the living room an unshared space
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    and I'm feeling like a guest in my own house.
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    Dear Straight People,
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    sexuality and gender?
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    Two different things.
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    Combined in many different ways.
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    if you mismatch your socks, you understand.
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    Dear Hip Hop,
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    Why're you fascinated with discovering gay rappers?
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    Gay people rap.
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    Just like gay people ride bikes and eat soul food.
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    Dear Straight People,
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    I don't think god has a sexual orientation
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    but if she were straight, she'd be a dope ally.
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    Why else would she invent rainbows?
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    Dear Straight Women,
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    I mean, "straight women".
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    LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE.
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    Dear Straight Men,
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    If I'm flirting with you,
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    it's cuz I think it's funny, just laugh.
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    Dear Straight People,
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    I'm tired of proving that my love is authentic,
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    so I'm callin' for reparations on your ass.
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    When did you realize you were straight?
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    Who taught you?
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    Did it happen because your parents are divorced?
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    Did it happen because your parents are not divorced?
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    Did it happen because you sniffed too much glue in 5th grade?
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    Dear Straight People,
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    Why do I have to prove my love is authentic?
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    Why do I have to prove my love is authentic?
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    Why do I have to prove my love is authentic?
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    Why do you have to stare at me when I'm holding my girlfriends' hand like I'm about to rob you?
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    Dear Straight People,
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    you make me wanna fuckin' rob you.
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    Dear Straight Allies,
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    Thank you.
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    More, please.
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    Dear Straight Bullies,
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    You're right, we don't have the same values.
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    You kill everything that's different.
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    I preserve it.
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    Tell me, what happened to Jose Mengado, Tsekiah Gunn, Lawrence King [SPELLING]
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    What happened to the souls alienated between too many high school walls,
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    who planned the angles of their deaths in math class.
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    Who imagined their funerals as tickertape parades,
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    who thought the afterlife was more like and after party.
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    Did you notice that hate is alive and well in too many lunchrooms?
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    Taught in the silence of too many teachers.
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    Passed down like second hand clothing from too many parents.
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    Dear Queer Young Girl,
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    I see you.
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    You don't want them to see you,
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    so you change the pronouns in your love poems to "him" instead of "her".
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    I used to do that.
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    Dear Straight People,
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    You make young poets make bad edits.
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    Dear Straight People,
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    Kissing my girlfriend in public
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    without looking to see who's around
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    is a luxury I do not fully have yet,
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    but tonight I am drunk in my freedom,
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    grab her hand on the busiest street corner in Philadelphia,
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    zip my fingers into hers and press our lips firmly,
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    until we melt their stares into a standing ovation,
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    imagine that we are in a sea of smiling faces,
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    even when we're not
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    and when we're not
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    we start shoveling,
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    digging deep into each other's eyes we say,
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    "Hey, baby, can't nothing stop this tonight"
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    because tonight, this world is broken and we're the only thing
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    that's going to keep it together.
Title:
Denice Frohman - "Dear Straight People" (WOWPS 2013)
Description:

All rights reserved to Denice Frohman, may not be transcribed, performed, copied without written consent from author.

Denice Frohman, Women of the World Poetry Slam 2013 champion, performing in prelims at WOWPS in Minneapolis, MN.

Check out more of Denice's work at: http://denicefrohman.com/

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Video Language:
English
Duration:
03:20

English subtitles

Incomplete

Revisions

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