Category: poetry


Recommendation: meant to wake up feeling


morrison recommends…

meant to wake up feeling

I felt like I was opening up a body as I read these poems. Picking apart bones and untwisting veins. These poems are written in ways that re-imagine what a page is, what a body is, what gender is/means. I feel enlightened and full of so many questions. I’ve begun to reread to search for the hidden meanings behind each word. Wow.

» Recommend something. «


Posted by on May 8th, 2015 at 08:00 am

books, poetry, recommendations | 1 comment »

Memoirs of Gender Dysphoria


Chase wrote…

The cloud hangs over my head
The pain I’ve felt for years
It makes me sleep and not get out of bed
And makes me awake each night with tears

I wake up each morning my eyes full of tears
And I put on my binder
As I try to push away my fears
I force myself to go to school feeling like a liar

There’s those teachers, known by first name
I use my free time to beg for any help at all
But they all act the same
“I can’t call you by that name, no not at all.”

“We can only use name and sex on your birth certificate,
No other may be used,
We have to tell dad about this.”
He is a lit fuse

The other kids ask questions all day long,
Although it hurts me deep inside,
I know I must be strong.
And I hate the rules, but I know I must abide.

I’m reminded of my pain when my binder is forced on.
It hurts and rubs against my chaffing skin.
People see that my inner light is gone,
And they ask me where I’ve been.

I feel the lump in my throat as I look in the mirror
“Chase, you’re so much better than this!!”
But as I say this, the female me makes me feel inferior.
“You’ll never be a real boy! You’re a girl with a selfish wish!”

As I force myself to see my female form,
In the mirror there’s a stranger I see.
My hair is short, my clothes are torn.
But the body that I have, this person isn’t me!

This stranger in the mirror, this human prison.
I think a shower might calm my restless mind.
How disgusting and awful is this mission,
To wash a body that wasn’t meant to be mine?

Now I have to wait for the dysphoria to lessen.
I take it day by wretched day, and maybe I won’t get through.
I look up and see that the moon’s a lovely crescent,
And maybe I’ll wake up from this nightmare really soon

What’s your experience?

And what are you thinking about gender right now?

.


Posted by on April 1st, 2015 at 08:00 am

poetry, your voice | Comment »

As We Fell


Reposted from Kityanpoet.com.

Kit Yan is a queer, transgender, and Asian American Brooklyn based slam poet from Hawaii. Kit performs entertaining and educational theatrical slam poetry pieces about his life as a queer, transgender, and Asian American through stories about family, love, and social justice.

( Submit A Photo )

Posted by on December 10th, 2014 at 10:00 am

faces, people, poetry | 1 comment »

Recommendation: What the Night Demands


Someone recommends…

Book cover of What the Night Demands

I love it because Miles Walser is a great poet. Miles wrote some very touching stuff about trans issues, and especially if you are FTM I bet you will love this, but no matter who you are you will love the writing of this cute as hell and intelligent writer.

You can find a nice blog of Miles, where there is a lot of poetry recommended…

» Recommend something. «


Posted by on October 2nd, 2014 at 08:00 am

books, poetry, recommendations | Comment »

Recommendation: Two-Spirit Poetry


Cecelia LaPointe recommends…

There are a few poems on my website that I thought I would share.

I identify as Gender Non-conforming, Genderqueer, Androgynous and Two-Spirit (Niizh Manidoowag — in Anishinaabemowin). I love genderfork!

The Androgynous Man In Brown Pants

I’m sittin’ at the end of this dock,
I’ve walked this way to find my beginning,
The boards of this dock creaking,
As I am the man,
The androgynous man,
With a cigarette hangin’ outta my mouth,

Today I am wearing brown pants,
Black t-shirt,
Flannel shirt in the truck,
Tomorrow I wear jeans,

These people keep passin’ through here,
Keep on passin’ through,
Going somewhere better they say,
Gotta get out of this place,

To some hippie idea of community,
This ain’t going work for me – the working man,
I wave my hand at em’ in disappointment,
Ain’t got time for thinking why these people don’t care,

This hippie idea forgets about the struggle of people like myself,
Residing in towns like Manistee,
Some “progressive” who turns their nose up at this place,
“Oh your from Manistee” in a derogatory tone,
Blinds closed,
Poverty,
Addictions,
Too much of an eyesore,
That town stinks from the pollution,

Keep on going I say,
Wave em’ away,

I am the androgynous man in brown pants,
Reminiscing about the days of family get-togethers,
Hot summer days,
Playing “redneck” horseshoes as some yuppie would say,
But they are just horseshoes to me,
I own this and I ain’t got no shame,
Eating watergate salad,
Thinking about the power lines towering over us in this Hazel Park backyard,
Just a few blocks north of 8 Mile Road,

From the D to the Stee to KBIC,
Don’t belittle,
Don’t be mean,
Bright minds,
Bright hearts,
Get tossed aside near the railroad tracks,
We pick up the pieces,
Mend our families,
Mend our souls,

Ya see I am the androgynous man in brown pants,
Driving the rusted old Chevette,
To a rusted old Ford,

There is always something better,
I try to make all of this work,
A heavy heart like a ball of iron,
Heavy heart from the generations,
Heavy from this identity,
Existing in this body,
Existing in this skin,
Gender deviation,
Equals community alienation,

And I ponder all of this,
As the androgynous man in brown pants,
In a woman’s body,
Here at the lake,
Watching her ways.

» Recommend something. «


Posted by on May 4th, 2014 at 08:00 am

poetry, recommendations, short story | 4 comments »

Recommendation: Bootleg Poems


Selena Anne (but Andy works, too) recommends…

Bootleg Poems and Poems from Big Pink
Two books that have poems and photos that have something to do with transgender exploration

Here is a whimsical, yet serious, poem from my book:

THE SATIN TREE

In Siberia
there is a tree
that oozes satin
Russian cross-dressers
make the arduous journey there
to pray and bathe
in its glory

One day
a man in angelic drag
cried out,
“There is no satin tree,
it is a fake”

“Pay no attention to him,”
said a soldier
in black bra and matching tap pants,
“his stockings have runs,
his wig is in tangles,
and his wings are made of cardboard”

“Still we must investigate,”
said a government official
in towering heels,
he took samples of the ooze
and headed back to Moscow

On his way back home,
the ooze seeped
out of his bag,
onto the streets,
underneath doorways,
and into master bedrooms

Even though
it was the dead of winter,
a strange joy
hovered over Moscow

» Recommend something. «


Posted by on March 21st, 2014 at 08:00 am

books, poetry, recommendations | 1 comment »

Recommendation: Troubling the Line


Tim Trace Peterson recommends…

Book cover of "Troubling the Line". It shows a person spinning fire at night.

As far as we know, this is the first-ever anthology of poetry by trans and genderqueer writers! “Troubling the Line: Trans and Genderqueer Poetry and Poetics”, edited by TC Tolbert and me (Nightboat Books, 2013) gathers together a diverse range of 55 poets with varying aesthetics and backgrounds. In addition to generous samples of poetry by each trans writer, the book also includes “poetics statements”—reflections by each poet that provide context for their work covering a range of issues from identification and embodiment to language and activism.

You can order the book at Small Press Distribution.

» Recommend something. «


Posted by on February 23rd, 2014 at 08:00 am

books, poetry, recommendations | Comment »

Good Morning Self


Someone wrote…

Good morning self.
Again I look at my chest as I wake.
Did they grow?
No.
Do I try, oh yes I do
Wait how silly is that?
I can’t try to make breast grow.
My friends tell me You look great.
I am trying hard to see that too.

What’s your experience?

And what are you thinking about gender right now?


Posted by on February 10th, 2014 at 08:00 am

poetry, your voice | 2 comments »

Recommendation: Here, We Cross


Anna May recommends…

Book cover of "Here, We Cross": "a collection of queer & genderfluid poetry from Stone Telling 1-7". Edited by Rose Lemberg.

Here, We Cross
A book of speculative poetry

“Here, We Cross” is a collection of queer and genderfluid poetry from issues 1-7 of Stone Telling magazine. It includes poems about both trans* and genderqueer identities and issues, and all of them are powerful, amazing poems. The chapbook is available via Amazon.

» Recommend something. «


Posted by on August 13th, 2013 at 08:00 am

books, poetry, recommendations | Comment »

Recommendation: Somewhere Bent


Sadelle recommends…

Somewhere Bent
A poem on a blog.

“I have never been aware,
What on the outside seems,
But not growing there,
I played a role, not my dreams.

I begged my body to be less of
That to be or what not to be;
Just be something I can love,
Even if only by lovers seen.

So why then do I seem
With tiny little nipple knots, not
On fleshy female breasts and
That thing down there is what?

I am a natural born killer.
That instinct has never died
Time after time being teased
And other reasons cried.

When they think that I am a girly
Boy, and fag or pussy I am called,
I have to beat them all up,
And I beat them one and all.

I fight to end it at the beginning;
The judgment of my heart,
And stop what would surely bleed
My soul forever from the start.

I feel the thoughts of those
Who cannot get in my head.
In the cross-hairs of their sights
Set on seeing me quite dead.

Just because my hair and clothes
Are not in lemming conformation
To their walking talking paper
Cut-out normal expectation?

I have never been aware of,
What on the outside I must seem.
But growing up, I played the role,
By every, and all means.

I wanted to hug and hold hands
And feel what girls and women do.
But I wanted to be a super hero,
And fit in as either too.

Now I know that I am neither,
I play the game no more.
Hormones and chromosomes
Failing at my gender core.

They let me down by the norm,
And denied full compliment
Of what is boy or girl, and left me
Somewhere in the middle bent.”

I just wanted to share this with my siblings. Being somewhere between the ‘normative’ gender binary options can be difficult. Especially when you are young. I wrote this when I was 18 (or thereabouts).

» Recommend something. «


Posted by on July 10th, 2013 at 08:00 am

art, blogs, poetry, recommendations | 2 comments »

Can’t sleep…


Insomnia, by feralboi

Cant sleep
sitting up
typing
wiping
at tears
(shed for fears)

My fingers bleed.

I don’t know who i am
I don’t know what to say.
Each day
I am different
and have to meet myself
for what feels like
the first time in a long time.

I battle with the boy
inside me
The boy within
who can’t seem to see
a way
to emerge/become
submerge/just be.

I am he
as much as i am me.

I cant sleep for the fear,
my heart murmers
and strings pull deep
and sinew
inside of me.

I ache
as i rest
body quiver,
I am displaced
disgraced,

lost and weary.

To sleep
in peace,
to be
and be free.

He cries silent
inside
within
heart and mind and body and soul
He makes me whole
complete
He is beside me.

Cloaked and daggered
he weeps tears
for all the years
he has spent
in the dark
and without
an identity
to identify.

He is me
and together we sit
awake
and silently.

In the darkness we cry.

– Jacqe Matelot

What are you thinking about gender right now?


Posted by on November 22nd, 2008 at 08:00 am

poetry, your voice | 6 comments »

godhunt


Dear God
(for lack of a better word),

I don’t want to personify you here,

but I do speak to my toothbrush
in the second person,
so I assume that means
I can refer to you as “you”
without inferring gender or human traits.

And I don’t usually disclaim my shorthand,

but with you,
I think it’s important.

I’m in San Francisco’s mission district
at 9 on a Saturday morning
and I’ve been on a scavenger hunt
for two hours now,
looking for you.
I’m out of practice.
It’s been awhile.
I started before I woke up
with flashes of the lover I can’t have
sitting under my eyelids.
I held them there for as long as I could—
her cheeks, her hands,
the angles of his body around mine,
the sound of their voice— Continue reading »


Posted by on November 5th, 2007 at 01:17 pm

poetry, thoughts | 8 comments »

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