Content warning: gun mention.
Passing Poem
my gender is a weapon
I concealed carry;
hold close but never
unholster
they call this
a privilege;
to disappear into a crowd,
to be assumed
cisgender
to the untrained eye
as if
this
is the
default setting
they call this
“passing”
which is to say
someone else
has
“failed”
which is to say
I am
only
worthy
when
I am
invisible.
About the author
Kai Schweizer is a writer, sexologist, youth worker, and LGBTIQA+ specialist located in Boorloo (Perth). They are the former President of the Curtin Writers Club and represented WA at the 2017 Australian National Poetry Slam. They have recently completed a Master’s dissertation studying eating disorders in trans people assigned female at birth. Someday, they hope to undertake a large, mixed-methods PhD study further looking at rates of disordered eating and eating disorders amongst trans and gender diverse Australians. Kai is currently obsessed with the devolution of sloths, the mating rituals of cuttlefish, and a retro video game called Kingdom. You can find them online at: www.kaischweizer.com
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