Searching for Pride

a poem about being found

Today’s poem I wrote two years ago. I’ve made a few edits and release it again. A reminder that finding ourselves is the greatest search party we can ever experience.

Searching for Pride
©Rebecca Wilson

typing PRIDE into the search bar
I found churches
inviting me to their parties
others that want their rainbow back
mama bears, scary dads
offers for free hugs, cute buttons
definitions, soundtrack suggestions
not enough about protest and resistance
10 ways to embrace
and 50 tools to defeat the gay agenda
how to stay safe at the parade
the ABCs of salvation
a warning about the sins
   of Sodium and Gomorrah

stores with t-shirts and shorts
shoes, oh the fabulous shoes
hats and socks, boxers and compression tops
stickers and bracelets, flags and notebooks 
glitter pens and painted rocks
a metal lunchbox 
   like the one I had when I was 9

yes, I filled my cart
but in the check-out line realized
that's not what I’m searching for
for the first time in my whole life
I’m not desperately seeking
or frantically trying to hide

a broken soul now healing
a battered heart now beating
a queer spirit brightly beaming
   with hope and possibility
bursting at the seams
   with dreams and creativity
a life that faced the fire
   and could not be destroyed
a love bathed in all the colors
boldly dancing beyond the lines

there’s nothing else to search for
once you find your pride

If you enjoy the poems shared here at Wednesdays at the Well, you’ll love the poems in Not My Grandmother’s Hymnal. I signed and sold several copies at a recent event AND I have a few left I’d love to sign for you. Click below to get yours today. And I’ll add in a cool bookmark too! Use the promo code PRIDE26 to save 10%.

with gratitude, Rebecca