Stereotypes

Yesterday, I shared some of the latest poems with two local writers. They considered some of the poems "garish," hawking tired stereotypes of gay men. Furthermore, they believed if these poems were about straight people, the response would be "so what?" One went further and said she'd read other gay writers who've considered these very issues.

I asked these two straight black women if they felt slightly uncomfortable with the idea of gay men and the appetites so apparent in these poems. They both acknowledged some discomfort and inability to connect with the subject matter.

Earlier yesterday, in response to me saying "I don't want to be a cliché," (in my writing or as a person) a colleague responded, "Clichés exist for a reason. They show shared, widespread human experiences."

All this got me thinking.

While I would like for anyone to read these poems and connect on some level, that's highly unlikely. One person's tired stereotype or cliché is another's lived experience.