Poetry by Ellen D.B. Riggle
Ellen D.B. Riggle has recently published two poems:
“Queer.” Rise Up Review, Summer 2023 (https://riseupreview.org/).
“He/She/They.” Pegasus, Fall 2023 (https://pegasus-poetry.org/pegasus-fall-2023/)
Queer (Rise Up Review, Summer 2023)
When I call myself queer, I honor
girls shunned as too masculine /
boys bullied as too feminine /
children kicked out of their familial home /
those ostracized, fired, displaced /
pathologized, shocked, lobotomized /
mutilated for what they wore /
raped for who they were (not) attracted to /
murdered for who they loved /
dehumanized for living truth /
could-no-longer-pretend /
loves and lives erased,
but they lived /
struggled, endured, fought for place/space
where I can do more than merely survive /
and call myself queer.
Ellen D.B. Riggle, PhD, grew up in the Midwest and has lived in Lexington (KY) for over three decades working a day job as a professor of gender and women’s studies in order to support a somewhat serious hiking habit. They are an award-winning educator, recipient of first place in the Harriett A. Rose Legacies contest (Carnegie Center Lexington, KY), and author of over 100 academic articles and five non-fiction and fiction books, including A Positive View of LGBTQ, Charming Memory, and The Book of Baby J.