August 7, 2026

connecting to ancestors
perhaps my own, if i know they were
whole
and not assholes

but ancestry is not just about dna
it is also about identity
non-blood relatives form found family
and found family becomes the ancestors
we wish we had when our own submit to
or uphold
white supremacy

being a good ancestor for future generations
is also about finding good ancestors
for yourself today

[note: it took me a while to come to this conclusion
and i’m still learning the nuances,
because it is not just about disavowing yourself away
from relations you don’t want — that is where
the ‘becoming a good ancestor’ comes in
choose your ancestors
choose your ancestry
and choose how you show up and speak out
for those your bloodline may have committed such atrocities against
they have little to no bloodline today; you don’t have to take responsibility
for everything done, but for goodness sake, don’t perpetuate a cycle
you don’t want out in
the world
or in your
legacy
your future
ancestry]

May 21, 2026

the pull to listen to
my high-school-age sound-track
is so damn strong

helping to direct a play
set in 2003
in two boys’ high school careers
and high school emotions
and high school coming-outs
[comings-out?]

it reminds me so highly
of my own story in
2006

the first love
[though mine did not last]
[thank goodness]
the self-hatred and
fear of the world
as you find your own footing
in your own community
[though my church was not a christian one]
even as that shifts to a different community
perhaps a community
of two

“we’re keeping it alive”
“what?”
“each other”

is one of the truest moments
i’ve ever heard on the page

and i hope it still rings so true
to a public audience
on the stage

April 17, 2026

kip is home!
kip is back!

literally
everyone
in this house
[including kip]
is so happy they are home!

the puppy snoofed and kissed and croodled
the cat hasn’t left the couch by kip’s side
for more than a few minutes

and i have been in a far more
relaxed state
feeling more like myself
with my kip by my side

[and kip feels the same
with me by theirs]

it’s so strange and beautiful to have found
this wonderful little family

February 8, 2025

click your heels together
and say
“there’s no place
like home
there’s no place
like home”

but if home isn’t a place
it’s a feeling
it’s a space for you to
know your own true you

aren’t the heels simply clicking
on the road
to your friends
your clique
your crew
your coconspirators
and comrades
and found family?

is that the truth?

November 24, 2021 (part two)

Family means so much
to so many people

my genetic relatives profess
Family
as the utmost of all people
those who have your back no matter what
the only humans you can truly count on
(most of them still live within a thirty minute drive of each other to this day.)

my friends, my community, unaccepted within their blood kin
find Found Family
to love them
without reservation
without expectation
without conditions
and count on each other

i am lucky enough to have both
blood and non-blood relations
who love me
unconditionally
but that brings with it
division of time
of love
of feelings
of celebrations

(and it is only the Family from birth
who saw me grow as i did
which is sometimes a good thing
and sometimes a not so good thing;
and there are memories,
sometimes lovely
sometimes hard
when in their company)

but

there is an awfully grand sense of growing
when i am able to fully help with the labor
i only ever messed up or ignored
as a child;
and to be able to pass that on to
the children younger than myself…

that feeling, it’s

Indescribable.