Columbus Pride Submissions: “poem for a pharmacy”

The LGBTQ+ community is strong, powerful, seen and heard here in Columbus. And 614 wanted to take the month of PRIDE and give the cover section over to our loud and proud LGBTQ+ Columbus crowd with their unedited copy, poems, art, photos, stories, and more about their experience here in the capital city. From love to heartbreak and everything in between, you get to hear directly from the people who make up this vibrant group about how they view the world and their place in it. Start flipping the pages to check out what the folks living happily and PRIDE-fully here in Central Ohio have to say. Happy PRIDE month, Columbus!

BROUGHT TO YOU BY

poem for a pharmacy

By Misha Grifka Wander

I changed pharmacies. I thought going to a clinic

was silly, because the CVS is close to my apartment and the clinic is not,

but the nurse tells me how to use my prescription for the first time

in the four years I have had it.

On my prescription it tells me not to use it.

“USE ONLY BY MEN” it says, warning women of the powerful hormones within.

the prescription does not know about people who are not women and men.

when I go to pick it up there is another person with the same prescription,

picking theirs up.

I can’t say “hey same drug!” but I feel it. I see them doing their errand and

I feel us in the same space.

do you feel safe here too? I hope so.

They have cool boots, tall and black and strong. I hope the boots

keep them safe in other spaces.

they did not look at me. they were busy. I hope they are safe always.

I hope that the prescription that does not know them

still gives them what they need.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY