The first piece in our brand new EUPHORIA series is ‘transistor’ by mk zariel.

transistor

i infodump to you about the Gallae
in the vain hope that it might ease your dysphoria
to know that you used to be normal. and maybe,
i tell myself, not being the first makes it a little easier

to dream of a world where we’re not the last
because i want survival to feel like a given, not
something begged for—i want to stop being
one of the good ones—and i’ll quote the Daughters of Bilitis at you—
long enough to realize how deeply problematic that is

and wish for just one piece of trans history
that doesn’t end with someone driven underground
i make my home at the core of the earth besides
a thousand relics of third genders once revered, of spaces turned to anticlimactic ruins—
and you let me melt with you, into something darker yet softer—

some days i find a certain freedom in knowing
that we won’t be here tomorrow, at least not
in the eyes of the 90%—after all, a little existential dread
really takes the pressure off. some days i cry
over the Gay Liberation Front’s magazine

but don’t most people? and i’ll text you vague
yet affirming whispers in the hopes that
you’ll be here tomorrow in faded histories
and the artifacts of a life yet to be lived.

About the author

mk zariel {it/its + masc terms} is a transmasculine neuroqueer theater artist, Best Of The Net and Monarch Award nominated poet, movement journalist, and BashBack aligned anarchist translocally rooted in the Great Lakes region. the author of VOIDGAZING (2026, Whittle Micropress), DIFFERENT WITH HIM (2026, Rockwood Press), and BOY APPARITION (2025, Vinegar Press), it creates conflictual spaces for trans survival and queer desire—spaces of insurgent genders, mutual aid beyond the nonprofit gaze, and the kind of care that negates (and negation that provides care). BashBack! remains close to its heart, as do anarchonihilism/egoism, experimental theater, and the defiant tenderness of queer collectivity. mk’s organizing is often underground, but its poetics and podcast crackle with the same unruly energy: community as generative+atemporal destruction, poetry as direct action. Oh, and according to anarchistnews.org—”zariel quotes the Principia Discordia, which is kind of funny” and “what is explicitly said about chaos is…fine?”.

Its writing has appeared in Querencia Press, Akpata, J Journal, Witches Magazine, Fifth Estate, ANMLY, OurLives Wisconsin, Library Of Eris, Oyster River Pages, and Seattle Journal of Social Justice, among many others. It contributes columns to Asymptote and the Anarchist Review of Books, its mixed media work is featured through Open Sorcery, and it authors the advice column DEBATE ME BRO and hosts the podcast THE CHILD AND ITS ENEMIES. it has also collaborated with Urban Ganges on a line of themed reed diffusers. mk is the author of eleven self-published zine projects, and performs regularly at anarchist gatherings, zine fests, and queer liberation events. You can find its offerings, commissions, and chaotic love letters to the world at mkzariel.carrd.co.

Photo by 𝕡𝕒𝕨𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕡𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕥𝕤 on Unsplash.