Subscribe to this blog's feedMan oh man! Disclosure is a hard thing to do, no matter if it is to a family member, a friend or someone you do not even know. People may use different methods for dealing with disclosure from writing a note to throwing hints. I deal with my disclosure through poetry. I am most definitely not a poet but writing poems puts me at ease.
When I am at the beginning of a relationship I would rather tell my partner that I am positive up front than wait for feelings to come around only to have them turned off when I say I am HIV positive. I try to protect my heart from being broken. So to save myself—and the other person—time, I tell them as soon as I can . This is the most challenging part of my diagnosis. My theory of telling people immediately sometimes comes back to haunt me. After so many rejections, it begins to hurt.
I wrote a poem that I read to guys in the beginning of a relationship and I wanted to share it with you all. Here it is:
I do not have to know you to care about you,
This is a hard thing but it is something that I need to do.
I do not know how you will react or feel,
But what I am about to tell you is so honest and so real.
It is who I am, and this is me,
My name is Marvelyn Brown and I have HIV.
You now have two options, you can leave or you can stay,
But just know for the next person it may not be that easy to say.
Maybe because they do not feel comfortable, rejection and so,
Or maybe because they’ve never been tested, so they do even not know.
The poem helps me a lot because it also educates them as well. Feel free to use my poem to help you with your disclosure. But promise me one thing. Do not use my name.
Until next time,
Marvelyn
