Dear Straight People Denice Fohman Analysis

I remember when I first experienced goosebumps raise on my arms and send a shiver through my body, simply because the words leaving the speaker's lips left such an imprint on me. I didn’t think that a simple sentence could bring tears to my eyes, could cause me to react in any physical way. I didn’t even know the author. Yet, it still amazes me anytime I react to such a poem. The emotions that the author pours into every word and every syllable is astounding. Each pause and breath tell a story on their own. I knew that I had to try. I wanted to make people feel the way like I did when I first heard them, but because it was my words that made them react. Denice Frohman’s poem, “Dear straight people”, wasn’t the first poem I had heard, but it really resonated with me. She starts off playfully, and as she continues her words become more intense, but when she softens her words again, she says, “Dear queer young girl, I see you. You don’t want them to see you so you change the pronouns in your love poems to ‘him’ instead of ‘her’. I used to do that. Dear straight
I personally feel like the theme of love appears way to often in the media already, so when I chose to find a new poem, I want it to be one that addresses something that society usually turns a blind eye towards. For example, Venessa Marco’s poem entitled “Patriarchy” points out that which many people chose to ignore:
Patriarchy is so evident, it seeps through every flaw you’ve got until everyone is calling you out your name. You, no longer Stacy. You, whore from downtown. Head game so good, got a man walking in the right direction. See how quickly you become a mouth again? A cavity? A temple and brothel, both cathedral and Jezebel? Cuddle and disparage? You, not just dressed up, high heels stopping pavement. You’re asking for it, as if your body were an eager child who can’t use its