There was no book on how to girl. I read all the books about animals at the library. When my mother gave me a book on puberty, I drew penises. I became track suits, jean jackets, short hair. My bones grew. In the city, I swirled caught without ponds, between asphalt and decay. My friends were boys who loved stories too. We shared spaceships and swords, by way of ferns and sodden Pacific monocloud. I did not primp, I did not preen, I did not want.
Hugh Blackthorne is a queer trans writer of LGBTQ poetry and fiction. His poetry has been published by Anti-Heroin Chic, Impossible Archetype, Coinspirator, and others. His unpublished novel The Curation of Eamon O’Reilly was recently runner-up in the BPA First Novel Award (UK). Hugh lives in Victoria, Canada.
