Letter to Lesbos
Sappho, I’m sorry
I don’t know how to be you
I don’t know how to follow your words
maybe they aren’t even yours
but they are in your name and I cannot follow them
in the way I so desperately want to.
Sappho, Saint of the Queer,
if there is a normal way to be a homosexual
bless me maybe
there is none
but at least let me understand what the beautiful people are singing
when they describe the need for sex.
Sappho, if I am what I am
and you were still alive
would you love me
maybe you never existed but
you are a concept I want
to be loved in the way that makes me whole
by the one I know is right.
Sammie Terpening (they/them) is a queer and autistic freshman from New York City. They are currently a creative writing major at SUNY Purchase, and have been writing poetry for almost five years. Besides writing, Sammie is a musician with vocal training.