Hair
Title: Hair
Creator: Hannah Teves
Category: Body
Creator Commentary:
Being in a long-term relationship, especially a physical one, means all participants have to confront their own bodies. In a queer relationship, the perception of those bodies can be especially uncertain. I often write poetry about my partner, but I rarely write about her body, because historically in literature, female-gendered bodies are thin, white, blonde, and (hetero)sexual. My partner’s identity does not fit into any of those requirements, and neither does our relationship. I mention Sharon in the sixth line; this is Sharon Olds, and I am referencing her poem “The One Girl At The Boys’ Party”, in which she mentions “her ponytail will hang its pencil lead down her back”. That poem is about the male perception of a young girl’s body; I referenced this because it is the opposite of what my poem is trying to say about the private perception of two queer people in a relationship. It is not about heterosexual perception, but about the uncertainty and certainty that comes with being gay and in love. I wanted to write a poem that takes into account the history of romantic poetry but progresses beyond any heterosexual standard. This poem was written within the context of a queer relationship in a changing and frightening world. I could have written about her body in sexual terms, or I could have written a classic heterosexual love poem and conformed to that ideal, but I believe that there is no one way to love anyone, and no one way to write love poems.
Submission:
Creator Bio:
Hannah Teves is an English Literature major and talented hugger from San Diego, CA. Their dream is to teach teenagers how to write and get paid doing it. You may recognize them as the
pink-haired individual who lives in the campus Starbucks, snuggled in between sofa cushions and drinking venti iced coffees.