1.
Imagine the poem:
something about clothes
and makeup, probably fingernails—
the pains of paints:
ochre, pink, yellow.
Or of breasts and tits and dicks and cunts
of bodies, (always) bodies.
2.
40% of trans people snort milk from their nose. 30% wake up crying in joy. 75% sweat at the sound of a phone call. Can’t forget the 25% who sweat all the time. 95% have a hair somewhere on their body. 50% enjoy vanilla ice cream. 1% are furious 99% of the time that the birds start chirping as early as 4am. Many trans people (some say even 60%) dance naked alone in their bedrooms. A minority of trans people paint exclusively in water colours. The Canadian Census finds that 95% of trans people are likely to be talked about in passive voice. 13% of trans people despise the colour blue. 19% of trans people enjoy baseball. All trans people dream of their teeth falling out.
3.
It is hard
to be a trans person.
I am often confused for
a train person.
It does not help
I frequent the VIA,
complaining and eating
fifteen-dollar cheese.
4.
i stubbed my toe, i cry.
the cis are listening
they hunger for purpled bruises
and low-income housing.
mother-fucker.
5.
if you are searching
for eggs in real life,
check your fridge
6.
We’re walking down the steps into a church
where a cafe, against all odds, continues to live.
Three 18-year-old guys pass me and a trans friend of mine.
Oh my god that’s a dude, they say.
Neither of us knows which person they’re talking about.
Fuck you, she yells.
I turn to the camera and speak to the cis audience.
Is this what you want to see in your trans poem?
7.
What? A trans person won something?
Don’t apply. They never give it to a trans person twice in a row.
Wait five years.
No, don’t be bitter. That doesn’t get you far.
Just write the trans poem—
you know—the one.
But make sure to read all trans writers
you need ta—need ta—sound the same
or they won’t give ya shit
won’t give ya a penny,
that’s why they got rid of ‘em.
And stop scratching your balls.
This is a family-friendly poem now.
8.
the cis are watching:
do a little dance
make no love
unless that love
lets them salivate.
9.
10% of trans people are the Antichrist. 10% of trans people developed the internet. 10% of trans people are just having a bad day you know. 10% of trans people drink and predict who is/was/will be trans. 10% of trans people prefer correlation over causation. 10% of trans people enjoy clocks. 10% of trans people entertain strict diet and exercise regimes. 10% of trans people pop blisters with a smack of Nevada. 10% of trans people try to capture sunlight in glass jars. 10% of trans people throw copies of Kropotkin through glass windows at Timmy’s. 10% of trans people live at 123 fake street.
Do you know 10% of trans people?
10.
Warning:
The cis cannot read this poem.
If they do, they may misinterpret the signs.
Please guide your cis friends and family
to the nearest exit.
11.
I’m not angry, see?
If I was angry, could I write a poem?
Could I tattoo myself?
Could I tell you how old
Diamond Stephens was when she died? 39.
If I was angry, could I see the yellows and pinks and the ochre?
If I am angry, why am I laughing?
Ha ha ha!
See?
No anger here. Not a drop.
Now grab your bricks,
we got windows to smash.
12.
That was so good, they say.
thank you, I say.
No, thank you.
Amilcar John Nogueira is a writer and settler from Windsor, Ontario. They most recently co-published their chapbook Ere with Simina Banu with Collusion Books. Other publications include The /tƐmz/ Review, Anti-lang, CAA’s Ten Stories High, and Words(on)Pages’ Blodwyn Memorial Prize. They are a co-founder of ZED Press. They are tired.
