#🪴

4 poems

incision

half decade wishes:
a leveling out.
forbidden kisses
the right choice, no doubt
central park consult
king cole martini
review old results
discard bikinis
photograph the curves
archives in high gloss
the things i preserve,
they’ll surely just toss
day before phone calls
rage at the system
its stops, starts, & stalls
need to assist him
sleep, holding a heart
cleanse every surface
wrong name on the chart
of course you deserve this
wave as the doors close
don’t use the “b” word
eat eggs as you doze
the artwork looks blurred
a husband’s phone rings
let me inside there
treat you like a king
hold cups as your care
bumpy ride that night
late rooftop phone call
two beams of bright light
never forget fall
a week goes by fast
managing your pain
see yourself at last
straight scars and no drain
i cry more than you do
it hits me deeply
this thing that you choose
didn’t come cheaply
a body transformed
like overnight oats
years since your plans formed
i’ll keep taking notes

ftl

random chance meeting
sweater that shimmers
parties are fleeting
your glances glimmer
post selfies in slack
our dms vanish
a coffee date ask
making a plan-ish?
calls about lost work
texts about gender
watching your lil’ smirk
my heart grows tender
shopping for red skirts
sharing a small lunch
enjoying my quirks
i’m having a hunch…
flirting a little
to see if it sticks
too noncommittal?
or does it just click
late night at a show
we let our legs brush
at the bar i chose
you admit your crush
a ride to your place
the tension growing
sharing a small space
finally knowing
nervously waiting
for you to arrive
fuck, now we’re dating.
we instantly vibe

t4t

i read that things used to be different for us. that we used to hide behind heavy coats, from ourselves. i read that we’d get compared to cigarettes on the street in broad daylight just for walking the wrong way. things are different for us now. not because we are the majority, but because we are not, and we know that. our difference is our value.

things changed because seasons did. the old trees that once ruled the forest have fallen, been subsumed into the soil. things changed because our elders fought for us and their enemies dwindled. life is no less complicated here and now. it may be more so. but that complexity, that intricacy, that is part of what makes this worth it.

i went on a date yesterday. they had two faces and three names. his lips felt like safety and possibility and becoming. we didn’t need to connect our brains with wires to see. we spoke the same language, we knew the same songs. our bodies united like an antique lock and key, lubricated with the oil of our passion. i want more. no, i need it.

all my friends are trans. i broke up with the ones who weren’t.
they understood.

change is good. the people that don’t get that will never get us. not all change is for the better, but the potential for growth and for flourishing is all we have. the possibility that tomorrow will be a new day with new rules. and that we’ll be here for each other when it arrives. that we’ll nurture the seeds and each other. that we can.

just use mine

he’s wanted one, i think, a while still growing his, it takes its time i wonder: why not just use mine?

our parts are modular by design they’re aftermarket optimized hot-swappable and still divine

then i’m above and he’s below press into him, extend a loan tell him: touch, like it’s your own

he strokes it like a precious gift he must be worried, he’ll miss it the gratitude vibrates his wrist

he shakes as need remaps the mind and both our systems intertwine we once mistake his flesh for mine

i ask him softly if it was good he nods like i rewound the world we had made what no one could