To Hold Hands; To Rebel | Oskar Leonard

To walk, hand-in-hand, is to expose

myself, and him, to the taunts and threats

which the world so loves to throw at us.

Small town. Every face is familiar, but not

every memory shimmers. Some stink of

hatred, pure and foul. Ignorance.

That girl, with the cheery smile and the

red jacket? She spat at our feet on the

English corridor in our little high school.

Passing us now is the man who leant out

of a speeding car's window to jeer

and point a phone camera in our faces.

Why would we continue to walk? Why

would we continue to hold hands, feeling

the comfort of skin-on-skin, interlocked fingers?

A mystery. Call it love. Call it activism. Call it

cockiness, bravery, stupidity—whatever name

you give it, the outcome is the same.

We will always hold hands, and they will

always hate us for it, and neither of us—

not we, nor them—will ever understand the other.

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Oskar Leonard

He/him

@ozzywrites Instagram

@leonard_oskar Twitter

Oskar Leonard is a trans author and poet from the UK. He is a senior editor at The Altruist, a poetry/prose editor at All Ears India and a creative writing intern at FOURALL Magazine. He has written seven books: three novels, two poetry anthologies, a short story collection and a novella. His short works have been featured in publications such as Juven, Dark Hour Dog Publishing and Get Candid Magazine. His website is 'https://oskarleonard.wordpress.com'.