Carolina Confidential

heretic (noun)
her·e·tic \ ˈher-ə-ˌtik , ˈhe-rə- \
Synonyms: dissenter, nonconformist, iconoclast

1. Religion: a person who differs in opinion from established religious dogma (especially one formally denounced by a church)
2. Broadly: one who differs from an accepted belief or doctrine—someone who challenges what’s “supposed” to be true

I am a heretic.

Not in the way they burned them at the stake—
but in the way I refuse to kneel.
In the way I don’t fit the mold they poured for me.
The way I bare my teeth at expectation
and spit out the word obedience like it tastes of rust and regret.

I walk a different path—not because I wanted to be different,
but because the road most traveled was never meant for feet like mine.
They move as a pack, howling in harmony,
but I’ve never heard a song that fits the rhythm of my soul.

I am rogue.
Wild.
Untamed beneath the skin of a world that keeps trying to sand me down.

I hunger—for passion, for truth, for the things they try to bury.
I thirst—for a light that doesn’t blind, but reveals—
a light that stands in the dark with me, instead of aiming at me.
For love that doesn’t ask me to be less. Quieter. Smaller.

They call us outcasts—those of us who step beyond the lines they drew.
Rebels. Misfits. Troublemakers.
Because we won’t shrink to fit spaces made too small.
They ask us to bow, to blend in, to behave.

But I will not.
I cannot.

To bow is to break.
To break is to betray who I am at the core.
I wasn’t made to conform.
I wasn’t born to be palatable.
I do not exist for the comfort of those who refuse to see me for what I am.

And so, I stand.

Teeth bared. Shoulders squared. Heart unshackled.

For I am a heretic.
And I will not be tamed.

Until next time,
Stay safe. Make good choices. And as always, stay kinky My friends.

~ Dray Orion