Do you know my biggest mystery?
My tangled offset stressful Identity.
At first I was a boy, manly and strong,
Then came the realization, ****, I was wrong,
I felt like a girl, feminine and proud,
I made sure to shout it, Oh I was loud.
Then came the blankness, the Hole deep inside –
I felt it down there, the darkness with whom I confide.
“There’s something wrong with you” They Screamed –
Then I felt the light, as through me it gleamed
I first was a boy,
But that was a ploy,
Then a proud girl,
But that was gone in a whirl,
Now I am through,
Up there with the few.
I am outside the binary
And to me, this is legendary.
Note From Editor
I was so delighted to see this poem about accepting and enjoying exactly who you are. Poems like this help other young people to live as themselves without fear, and their importance can’t be overstated. Some of the things I especially love about this piece are the joyful, empowered tone, the neat little couplet structure which feels very strong and true, and the clever use of the ‘binary’ language of technology in the title. We are often raised to think of the world in ‘binary’ terms (good/bad; beautiful/ugly; friend/enemy), and all this does is cause disagreement, oppression and conflict. This piece challenges our thoughtless acceptance of binary language and celebrates loving who we are, and I am so very happy to publish it for everyone to read.