Nonbinary Style Guide: Nature is Queer

A departure from my standard format...

I recently read the novel Shark Heart: A Love Story and was struck by how clearly it conveyed its ideas without a rigid or consistent structure.

The idea that Nature might be Queer has stuck with me, though I struggled to articulate it. With the rise of Artificial Intelligence, people keep repeating the same advice: touch grass. But capital-N Nature can feel hard to access, and I want to speak to how we might find it in smaller, more accessible doses.

Without further ado, as a departure from my usual article style, here is my poem:

Nature is Queer

What if the solution is to reunite with the trees? 
To breathe deeply
and know ourselves once again. 

To put down the bits and bobs 
that tell us when to drink 
and eat 
and think. 

So, how is Nature Queer? 
It simply is itself.
It is free, and raw, and honest.
It does not become
what we wish.

Being Queer is the process of 
returning to yourself.
Sometimes, 
the active work recedes 
and you 
simply 
are.

For many of us, 
Nature has become a distant concept
of weekend trips and faraway hikes.
Money.
Time.
Equipment.
Barriers to halt the reconnection.

Have you ever watched a bird
peck at seeds from a feeder? 
It is an offering,
an invitation for Nature to come closer.

The same blue jay 
visits our offering each day,
tilting their head
as if they know me too.
They have become a regular,
I could consider them 
my 
friend. 

In the same way,
I didn’t know the people on the bus
with full shopping carts and carrot tops 
dancing over the edge.

Like the blue jay and me,
we made subtle eye contact.
A small recognition
of our shared individuality.

Queerness is a form of knowing, 
not a job title or where you're from.
It is instead the recognition of another,
living as themselves.

That authentic light lives in all of us. 
Some choose to cut off its air.
They try to dim the glow
of those who've seen the beacon
They'll try to push us down
conforming paths,
to keep us from one another.

But I recognize the Nature in you 
And maybe
you see that light 
reflected in me.