Shopping Cart
    items

      May 8, 2016Profane AndrogenBrody Parrish Craig

      in seven days I go under the knife
      to sing with better angels & my brain
      full of if & and & but & yet he says
       
      at best my peace of mind is eight-fold
      pathological on my ninth draft
      I swear I’ll call your cat-tailed bluff
       
      your animalistic logic out in a flatter line
      I’m flattered by the thought I’m flawless
      as a diamond in the scruff tonight
       
      I cradled a cat & cried I waited on the cliff
      hanger jaw lined with mouth with curse
      with light at the end by the ear by the tunneled
       
      crotch or crock of this case could be closed
      but no I’ll never slice the ribs or ribbed drawers
      open for a lesser man let us see if I am full
       
      of shit or full of moon hang-nailed with prep
      ositional disagreement in my gut
      punch my proactive
       
      man chimerical
       
      i’zed the noun
      for binded
      secondary sex
       
      characterized by shirtless
      backward thinking test
      less the testosterone
       
      is some singular word
      for being more than
       
      chemical peeled belle
      or peal of bell that damned
       
      last call that talks my body red
      ringing & wringing night red-lettered
       
      red-lettered I rose up
      undoctored in the office
       
      red-lettered I recover
      the spelling error
      in my name
       
      red-lettered I will shell
      out fear of change
      & several grand
       
      congrats
       
      for your small
      fish sharper-image click
      bait miracle the husk
       
      y voiced critique that says
      shhhhe saw right through assigned
       
      the assignment for today is to drag
      race in your division do you sport
       
      or spot each other’s manhood
      pinstripe or pinterest any suitor’s
      sutured vow for once
       
      upon a time I dreamed
      that eunuch was a big
      boy word for sleep or weak
      remind me we are in it deep
      & antiquated bow out now
       
      know that a cross eye
      or a fire-side eye
      chat about my smile
      will always be inherently political
       
      and still inherited politically
      I sometimes disrobe
      the vigil of my shirtless
      as the fishermen boat us
      around the bend
      of gender beg
      disclose the subject
      matter of this reform
      school sentence now
       
      because in seven days
      the outer circle
      of my body
      will disperse
       
      & no salt circle
      will drive my
      slug-gun arm
      from pitching
      it to ya real good
       
      because the nurse asks
      will I work my way down
      after the required breast exam
      because the room asks will I risk
      it all to die circled in the feed
      of faces, tooth & nail & lace
      & lace-up sneak ’er in
       
      the surgeon generally declares the patient virtuous

      from Poets Respond

      Brody Parrish Craig

      “This poem is in response to the publication of ‘Sacred Androgen’ in Antioch Review. As a trans person & poet, this publication impacted me deeply. The essay that appeared in Antioch Review was strongly transphobic and not representative of what I personally see as my expression of gender, transition process, or need for medical transition. The piece that I have written attempts to reflect the anxiety and frustration that this article induced in me while simultaneously playing with language and queering language in a way that I feel embodies my personal thoughts on gender.”

       ↗