Berdache Boy

Berdache Boy



He may throw like a girl,

But he fucks like a man. Wild, stroking



Hands, coarse with callous, through

Disheveled strands of black stallion



Mane; the sweat, wayward pearls

Pouring from crown to cheeks to chest, down



To the cathedral carved

Into the contours of rigid hips.



His kiss is mist, gentle.

Berdache, holy man who makes love



To men, primal and sweet,

An old indigenous tradition,



Cloaked in the French word for

Faggot and reframed into broken



Dichotomy. Two-spirit

Boys born to be shamans; now, shadowed



With shame, exiles outcast

To closets, to caves, to empty deserts.



He has been wandering,

His eyes closed, his hands tightly folded,



And he opens to my

touch, to the sensation of warm, moist



Breath that condenses and

Beads wet necklaces around his nape.



The sweat transforms his skin

To slick, mossy slabs of granite: strong,



Solid and slippery;

And his thighs taste of the tides. Thrusting,




The torque of his torso

Is taut bowstring tense with pointed length



Of an arrow flèched with

Feathers. Within him is the ocean.



The sweat is salty spray;

And, I am swimming him, breathing his



Water, whirlpool of flesh,

Without shame, diving into deep, dark



Mysterious seas, wild

With waves of swirling black hair shining



Obsidian in bright

Moonlight. There is sugar in his step,



They say, his wrist is limp,

Soft like his shy lisp. His kiss whispers



Hidden strength and his posture speaks shame.

Berdache boy stand up!



Answer faggot with fearlessness. Howl

Windstorm songs from your heart.



Warrior! Teach us your wisdom as we welcome

You into the tribe that has always been yours.



Berdache boy! We are waiting for you to leap,

To swell with courage and immerse yourself within



Water.

Moonlight.

Tribe.

Your own sacred nature.



May the full moon lift your undulating body into the harbor of my open arms

Until you fully become the ebb and the flow of your pulsating heart,

Until you fully become who it is that you were truly born to be.