Hidden Warriors in the Hidden World

“The Safe Cave“

Written by Christy Lee, a WSTB05 student from the University of Toronto

This poem was submitted as part of OPF's partnership with the WSTB05 class (Understanding Power and Knowledge in Research). More information about our partnership can be found here.  

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Introduction:

My research topic is to explore the experiences of LGBTQ+ youths on social media. Social media has a huge impact on our daily lives. Youths are especially active in using social media. In particular, LGBTQ+ youths have high connectivity with social media. I have created a poetry regarding how LGBTQ+ youths use social media as a way to fight back one of the dominant systems of power – heteronormativity and speak for themselves using photos, videos or simply captions of words. They can have relatively higher autonomy in the social media environment when compared to having face-to-face interactions with people in real life (Lucero 125). They get to choose what to post, who to talk to and customize the kinds of information they want to know, under a less stressful and pressurized atmosphere. To them, the existence of social media is just like a safe cave that gives them the strength to find meanings and values in their lives.

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The Safe Cave 

There’s one cave 

Unlike any caves in the world 

Invisible companions feel free that 

Words on the keyboard flow freely 

There’s one cave 

Colorful than any palette in the world 

Small pixels of colors form a rainbow that

Light up invisible companions’ day 

There’s one cave 

Warmer than any place in the world 

Even though they are all strangers 

Invisible companions understand 

There’s one cave 

Safer than any place in the world 

Even though there is a war out there 

Invisible companions protect 

This one cave will be replaced 

Only when the time come 

Only when there is true unity 

Within the human race