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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.
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'.