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Dale Booton
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the poet
Dale Booton (he/him) is a queer poet from Birmingham whose poetry has been published variously by Verve Poetry Press, Young Poets Network, Queerlings, The North and Muswell Press. He has work forthcoming with Magma, and recently hosted the Young Poets Takeover at Verve Poetry Festival. Dale's debut poetry pamphlet, Walking Contagions, is available to pre-order from Polari Press.
the poems
Church
when told that God is not meant to be
understood I crumbled felt the weight of expectation
as it dragged my body below the floor and held it there
if knowledge is power then why can I not know
why I am so powerful is it that my voice
can be used as a weapon that my thoughts
can soar beyond these four walls I’ve heard it said
captivity is a state of mind I’ve been told
theologists are the wisest of all well I beat Pastor
at chess at pool broke out of the cage he put me in
little child the Lord moves in mysterious ways
but is never wrong so you tell me why you tried
to darken my heart denied my being why
the spirit of someone can only be what you say it is
Classroom
how strange that want to preserve what is
so obvious I have heard parents speak
how they don’t want their children to know
of people like me just like I don’t want
my classes and colleagues to know how alone I feel
we erase what we fear what we cannot
understand drive it into the shadows in the hope
it will never make it to light again
here my voice is foreign this place
where sexuality is a question-and-answer session
each one a stone’s throw further from purpose
no room for growth
no stature that can define a willingness
to teach those whose kin would want you dead
Nightclub
I have heard the music speak to me
it was the bodies of friends and strangers
that introduced us kindred arms wrapped
around the uncomfortable relax
we move as one
there is strength in physicality
there is softness in letting go
that not-so-sober shove onto the dancefloor
that not-so-innocent rush to be close to some other
proximity is breath
a closely guarded secret
here my breath is not foreign this place
where love and lust are two words
that begin with l like living
Publishing credits
All poems: exclusive first publication by iamb
