Excerpt from “QUEER YOUTH ARE FIVE TIMES MORE LIKELY TO DIE BY SUICIDE”

means:

You lived five times harder than you should have had to

to still have a body when you graduated high school.

means:

Hate worked five times harder

to make your spirit its wishbone.

means:

When your mother asked what was wrong,

you were five times more likely to believe you'd lose

her if you spoke the truth.

means:

You were told five times more often

you'd go to hell when you died.

means:

Burning for eternity seemed five times

more doable than another day in the school lunchroom.

means:

You were five times more inclined

to triple-padlock your diary.

means:

You were five times more likely

to stop writing your story down.

means:

I write my heart out now.

Queer youth are five times more likely to:

see you how you dream of seeing yourself.

To write something in your yearbook that will get you

through the next decade. To spot a stranger crying

and ask if there's anything they can do to help.

Five times more likely to:

need us to do the same.