My found poem is based on “Ur So Gay” by Katy Perry. I found the meaning of this song to be homophobic with unwarranted resentment toward a boy who is homosexual. Throughout the song, she tells of how she fell in love with a boy who has stereotypical qualities and characteristics of a gay man. This causes her to judge him for acting or appearing as gay and her anger in the song manifests into negativity towards LGBTQ people as a whole. This song is very frustrating for me to listen to because of the perspective being so pessimistic about something that her love interest cannot control. The publication of this song was in 2007 and I do not think she understands how it could be perceived. Though it may seem like an innocent disappointment in a crush, LGBTQ people can be easily hurt by her choice of words and the context of the narrative.
I really like this assignment because I was able to change it into a response to her underlying homophobia. I made it so the speaker of the poem is challenging her views as seen through the repetition of “boys like boys”. My work intends to call out people who are homophobic and asks them to look inside themselves to assess where the hatred is coming from. It goes through feelings of denial, anger, sadness, and generally not listening to other people’s points of view. A possible interpretation of my new found poem can be that the speaker is calling out to people who are internally homophobic since the aggressor is gay themselves. This can be seen in the lines “Your mind may refuse to believe” and “You pull ‘em down just to stay alive” insinuating that the people who say hate speech do it as a way to repress or deny their own feelings of homosexuality. Overall, I think the spin of the original is a stark contrast and aims to recognize the unfair oppression and challenging viewpoints of people who are queer.
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Amazing poem Lauren! I love the way you were able to transform your message as well as the structure and concept of your poem. I have heard this song previously and although I could recognize that it was wrong, I don’t think it evoked as much as a reaction as it should have. I find it interesting that from “You’re So Gay” as an insult, the same words transform into “Boys Like Boys” from a homophobic tale to one of pride. One of the things that drew me to your poem was title, bold and surrounded which sheds a positive light on the words used as insults and even in the structure, even surrounds the title. This tells you exactly what this poem is about, and accentuates that there is no harm in being gay with all the repetition. Overall, I think you did a great job and loved your unique transformation of a once hateful song.
Hi Lauren! I was drawn to your poem by the bright colors and your choice to use a highlighter on some of the words. This song has always left a sour taste in my mouth, even though I understand that it is probably a product of its time, so I really enjoyed your choice to subvert the homophobic messages in the lyrics. I think that highlighting “boys like boys” and “boys fell in love with boys” was powerful because it makes a bold statement that goes against the original song. I also enjoyed the line “you’re not listening to me” because it provides the illusion that the speaker of the poem is talking directly to someone and that person is not paying attention or giving them the response that they are seeking. I also like that the poem ends with “so” because it leaves the poem open-ended and allows the reader to come to their own conclusions about what happens next.