Mark GorsucH

An ode to youth lost

Youth lost is

Gray haired parents, 

& Dead childhood pets.

Selling your home, 

& buying a house.

Searching for intimacy, 

& gaining weight.

Loss of relevance,

& season finales. 

Clothes that don’t fit,

& bills that don’t stop.

Losing friends,

& gaining acquaintances. 

Dreams smothered by reality,

& Life without magic.

What is aging but the dashing of dreams 

& the death of confidence. 

Every child fancies themselves an artist and singer

I fancy myself exhausted and unprepared

Just going out to dinner/is a cautious outing.
Just driving out to dinner/is a careful outing.
Holding hands in public/we hear people shouting.

When the neighbors ask who he is/he’s always a friend.
When we stand in line at the corner store/we always offend.
Like denial of ourselves/we have to pretend.

Outside our house/we can’t express with a flag.
No matter how bad we want/we can’t put out our flag.
Our house we be the target:/the house of the fags.

We put on our face/that we don’t care. 
We keep on that face/but we are aware.
Just the other day/the worker cut us with glare. 

With all this said and done/we feel better off in home.
With all this sad and done/we assume just staying in home.

Safe behind the boards/until the hatery is gone.
Safe behind the boards/until the hatery is gone.

MARK GORSUCH IS A BLACK, QUEER, CATHOLIC POET, SOCIAL WORKER, AND ACTIVIST FROM ASHLAND, OHIO. HIS WORK HAS APPEARED IN THE BLACK FORK REVIEW, ANTHOLOGY MAGAZINE, AND HE HAS A POEM IN HELD, THE FORTHCOMING LITERARY AND VISUAL ART ANTHOLOGY BY ENFLESHED.