Closeted
no one else had to know
yet, somehow people knew
random friends of her mother
would approach daily in the local shops
wishing her mazel tov
in the most kosher places
and other forbidden spaces
they’d approach her, smiling awkwardly
it was almost worse to receive congratulations
because one never knew whether or not they were genuine
it was not the worst, and it was not the best
living in her hometown, surrounded by her angels
and demons, the familiar infrastructure, her parent’s house
somehow people knew
though they did not know what drew her
to this life in the shadows
in another time, with the same people
she would have been stoned to death
in another time, with the same people
she would have been hidden away
like Rapunzel in the tower
cursed for her impunity
loving me
