For Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson
“I was no one, nobody, from Nowheresville, until I became a drag queen.”
They named a park after you,
seventy-five years after
you were born.
When Alabama men feel me up
with their eyes at the Home Depot
in Anniston, trying to connect
short hair, button down,
and female,
I’ll pay it no mind.
When my mother says well at least
she dates men
or she looks like a girl...
When my father compares
this affliction of homosexuality
to a polyamorous orgy
that no one needs to know about
I’ll pay it no mind.
They named a park after you,
twenty-eight years after
your body was found
floating on the Hudson.
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Jules Taylor is a poet and high school English teacher who lives in Decatur, Georgia. Jules will be finishing her MFA in Creative Writing at Reinhardt University this summer and is excited to continue writing and teaching. You can follow her on Instagram @julestaylorwriting.
