In fourth grade, we had to do a project
About “weird laws” across the United States
I picked that men couldn’t wear dresses in Alabama
I thought it was funny

Little did I know that it was an anti-gay law
Because of who I am I still reflect on it today
I didn’t know then what I know now but I wish
I didn’t insult a culture for a laugh

Years later I was fourteen at summer camp
There was a mean girl in another group, in a description
I said “she looks like you” about my friend because I didn’t
Want to say the word “black”
It was probably more offensive to compare my friend
To this girl than it would have to just say
An adjective about skin color

So maybe this is why I write
To rid myself of the regrets I’ve gathered
Through the years of simply being myself

And maybe the only reason I perform
Is so that eleven-year-old girls beg for more
And I can improve someone’s life
They won’t have my same regrets
The ones I’ve thrown onto paper so they can discover
My sins and know not to recreate them