Originally appeared in Transgender Tapestry #103, Fall 2003.
For Debra Forte, Rita Hester, victims of transphobia. by Oussama Zahr

My lashes, wistful, close
?Lids soothing eyes
Like aloe over the burn?
Close for moments
Longer than yours do
So you can look at me
Without reciprocity,
?In the dark under my lids
And through my mascara,
I secrete a light unlike
The one you think
You can shine through me?
I do you
This favor knowing
Better than you
Your vulnerability
As you undress me
Sliding my top down over
Hardened silicone bulbs
That you eventually cleave
To procure hastily
My heart, severely
Paring layer after
Failure to excavate
With your light
Some corroborative Truth to Subdue the erection
That defies you;

Thus you probe, so you rend, Scared of what you?re
Not finding, stick me
Through the way you can?t
When you discover
My one inch stump
The relic, the pillar
That you have turned to
That you cannot escape
Even with your 6?
Stab wounds in my chest
Any one of which suffices
To kill me,
Her.

Oussama Zahr is a junior at Harvard, majoring in Literature. He has taken poetry writing courses with Forrest Gander, Jorie Graham, and Peter Sacks; performed in college musical and opera productions; and is Political Chair of the Harvard LBGT Student Association. He can be reached at zahr@fas.harvard.edu.


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Free To Be My Own Gender
by Angela Dobbs-Sciortino

Do not treat me as whatever
gender you
perceive me to be.
Treat me for who I am
and what I do.
Do not tell me I have to pick
one or the other
So you will feel better about how
you think of me.
Do not tell me there are
only two options.
Do not tell me my gender was
decided by the doctor.
I?m sick of this dichotomous
gender bullshit.
Gender expression can vary wildly.
Do not exclude me because
I don?t fit in your perfect mold.
Do not make an example of me
So others will be afraid to
show their true selves.
Just because I am not what
you expect
Does not give you the right
to ridicule, beat, rape, and
murder me.
I have a right to live
and be happy.
A right to be who I am.

Angela Dobbs-Sciortino is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin, with a B.S. in anthropology and women?s studies. S/he lives in Madison, Wisconsin. Angel is in a polyamorous relationship with her partner of eight years. S/he can be reached at parody@bigfoot.com.