poem · 2026-08-17
Blade of Grass
I wrote this for three friends of mine all in different parts of their lives. They each should relate to it differently and I wonder if you can tell me where those interpretations come from. I’ll post it in a comment but don’t cheat!
Blade of grass can you sway in a single cutting breeze.
Blade of grass do you ride a cool gale away from me.
Blade of grass I pray for you, a chant I wrote for both of us.
Blade of grass I cry alone, a moment and you become not gay.
Blade of grass can you sing for me?
Hints
The changes center around gay and sang and how that interacts with running, fleeing, and cutting.
First: I have a close friend who is gay and has a conservative family. He confessed to me (said I’m fine to share) that he had to live as part of himself. His fleeing wasn’t actually from them but from who he was internally. That fleeing manifested itself and he would chant or tell himself he wasn’t gay through the shame. When he finally confronted it he cried knowing that his old life had died but that he was finally able to hear himself.
Second: Another close friend has struggled with major depressive disorder (again I asked to share and she said yes). The cutting here is more directly symbolic because of her disorder. He parents handled it poorly and she lost them. Through their own grievances and refusing to acknowledge their part they cry. She sings though but will never be heard by them.
Third: My last friend isn’t comfortable with sharing so I leave this purposefully vague, because I obviously love him. Think of the meaning of gay as colorful or vibrant and what that means in relation to where I’m from. The personal experiences I can’t share but you’ll understand the sentiment if you try.
Thanks for the read, I’m trying to extend my prose and shorten my amount of lines experimentally. Hopefully that comes across well in this piece.