Glow

I have rewritten this many times—this is another complete rework: I’d like to consider it for the Muse contest. I am trying to do more showing images, less telling ( I struggle so with that!) Do you” get” that this is a gender transition poem? And the other point is that transition is real and positive…. and. that no one can deny another person’s existence.— Does that come through?

Glow

After “Wistful,” mixed media by Lauren Douglas

Did my hormones crisscross the placenta,

too much female, not enough male?

So what if they did. Human biology does what it wants,

makes what it must.

You arrived boy, by first appearance,

but the brain, the tender skill of feeling,

the quiet nurture of the heart

leaned another way.

For years you circled the seasons of change,

wintered your worries, and learned

which parts of yourself could survive.

In your own time, you let the real you bloom.

Some were surprised.

You were not.

There were no second thoughts.

Rightness wears the yellow of sunshine,

warm on the skin,

a wish fulfilled, birthed again.

The clouds have lifted

to reveal a glow of poise and promise.

Your genius moves outward now,

offered freely, useful, alive.

Be safe, my child.

You never have to go back.