When I was a teenager,
I had a nightmare:
The way I walked was more
Like a boy, less like a girl.

I had a nightmare:
The way I would dress each year was more
Like a boy, less like a girl:
As if I were running, running, running away.

The way I would dress each year was more
Like a spectrum, less like a binary.
As if I were running, running, running away
From what I thought I was.

Like a spectrum, less like a binary,
The way I walked was more
From what I thought I was
When I was a teenager.

About the author

Freya Sacksen is a London-born New Zealand-based emerging poet with an MA in English Literature from Te Herenga Waka Wellington University. Their poetry explores themes of identity, grief and love.

Photo by Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash.