He.

[crisp geyser]

🥹 holy this is peak, it also give slam poetry vibes

A beautiful story about execaptance 🙏

[marsh wyvern]

When I first saw the word “queer”, I thought this was a struggle about sexual preferences. While I think it’s more about being different in general, this poem could also fit my original theory, as people who identify as LGTBQ+ or other similar affiliations have historically had it pretty rough.

The “his father” stanza lends a bit of credence to this. One could see the speaker’s transition being met with pushback, as they’re becoming “distant” from their parents who either look down on or don’t comprehend the speaker’s decisions. They may also be religious; given the use of the word “hymns.”

The speaker is pessimistic about their future life under these conditions; constantly dreaming about how everything used to be so much better and simpler when they were younger.

[lilac osprey]

very interesting perspective... also, spot on meaning of the poem in the last line

i used queer as it not only represents being gay and weird but growing up in usually, a feminine led space can lead to a child imitating these things in that space making him "queer" to society

as a young child, i learned how to cook, how to clean, and how to treat people with respect. things majority of men expect women to do for them

also the "his father's line" stanza. while your perspective is beautiful, it was intended to mean that they shame him for not talking to them

this, of course, is a consequence of something more complex, like being a child who experiences a divorce between their parents. while a child is with a parent almost all the time, the chances of that child seeing the family of the other parent are low if agreements and efforts weren't made to do so

and due to the lack of effort, that side of the family can hate the child because of his evergrowing distance to them

and the religious bit is right. they love the church more than they love him creating conditional love

there's also a hidden layer to this too, hymns can also be seen as "HIMS" meaning that there are other men within the family that they uplift and spend time with instead of him

conditional and unfair loving