Dear Raven-Symoné
By Logen Cure

Girl, let me just say
this is such a relief.
All this time, I’ve checked
the white box not knowing
what that even means but
now I’ll check other
and write Texan.
I don’t do pumpkin spice lattes.
I don’t own an infinity scarf.
I connected with a haiku
and some quesadillas so
I guess that’s who I am today.

Why didn’t I think of it?
When they said dyke
over the loudspeaker
on their pumped up
truck; when the pop
of pellet guns stung
my cheeks; when they
toilet papered my house;
when they gunned it
as I stepped onto the crosswalk,
why didn’t I just say

I’m human?

Logen Cureis a poet and teacher. She is the author of two spoken word projects: the Make it Memorable EP (2014) and In Keeping, a chapbook published by Unicorn Press (2008). Her work also appears in Word Riot, Radar Poetry, IndieFeed: Performance Poetry and elsewhere. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She lives in Texas with her wife. This poem is a response to Oprah Winfrey’s interview with actor Raven-Symoné, in which she rejected labels like “gay” and “African-American,” insisting that she is only “human.”