1.

She takes my names and runs away from me
not noting when my pronouns change
when I shave my head
stop dressing in dresses

She answers to ma’am without a flutter
in her breast
uses women’s’ locker rooms
makes it easy for others
not to other her

2.

I spell my hir
to rhyme my sir
but it only matters
on the page

3.

I am nothing to you now
I want to be something
even misremembered
deadnamed
palimpsested
flipped past
a passing thought
a didn’t there used to be
a wasn’t there once

4.

Some days I still hear
the worst sound in the world:
one of my parents
calling my name
imagining dutiful
daughter
devoted and pure
I imagine her too
but never well enough
to improvise on cue

5.

My pronouns are
“it’s complicated”
a work in progress
an old address

About the author

Myntha Anthym is a queer, Black, genderfree artist and writer living in Denver, Colorado, USA. Themes in hir writing include the spirits of the natural world, gender and racial identity, and the lived experience of disability. 

Photo by USGS on Unsplash.