Dear Well Meaning Cis Women Poets, A Poem

<Back to the Issue

dear well meaning cis women poets,

i’m going to try to be polite about this but i really would rather not.

see, sorry if i seem like i am silencing you with this piece but i want to let you know that is how i feel daily.

she read a poem about periods,

and her daughters

and her daughter’s future daughters

letting the life blood flow

maybe something about wombs

but not all women have wombs, not all people who have wombs are women

my womb is an empty room

and i plan on keeping the door locked tight.

not every trans man has his door locked tight,

trying to keep the bad dreams out at night

slammed the door after shutting off the light

before taking a last look around and a deep breath,

saying goodbye- it was lovely knowing you. i know you are sacred.

i don’t know if i understand why you are sacred. i hope you understand that i do not view you as something sacred. for me.

i am a man who has put a deadlock on it. i hope it gathers cobwebs. i’ll turn all the old family photos facedown where i am wearing a dress.

and i know that bloodletting is holy and ancient and has been since the beginning of time

but please, it is not a women’s issue

equating wombs with women

equating periods with women

equating vaginas with women

is only detrimental, and i know you mean well, cis women poets.

i know you are not trying to hurt us.

i do not want this to be read as an attack,

i’m looking for some peace of mind, to be behind the wheel for once and not just in the passenger seat along for the ride, wondering if i even belong.

and i fucking swear to god, if anyone says something along the lines of this is just another man making everything about himself

i will bleed my period blood all over everything you love

wracked with sobs because the fucking toast popped out of the toaster.

on the floor, begging for ginger green tea.

i get it. i get it. i understand, and i am right there with you

and respectfully

if you think it sucks being a cis woman on her period

just try and take a single second to imagine how it feels to be a man on his period

and i know so many aspects of masculinity are toxic,

but let me navigate this

i’m not trying to take anything away from you

i’m not trying to blame anything on you

but how can i try to reclaim my body when only cis women are making it about themselves

i’m screaming until my lungs give out.

i am crying for you to hear me.

i am writhing on the floor in pain.

are you not my sister?

am i not your brother?

please acknowledge that i exist.

it is not solely your struggle.

not only do you exclude, me, but you exclude the trans women who are being murdered still just about weekly

the non-binary people who are even more under the radar than me

because so many can understand binary trans but not anything outside of that

and i do not care if you have a trans cousin,

or you helped some kid come out in high school,

or your favourite character on degrassi was adam

because your language continues to silence us and me and did i mention us enough

so save the ovaries before brovaries

save your pussy power

save the women are only recognizable as women if they have vaginas

just miss me with all of that transphobic bullshit in general.

have you ever heard of a terf?

not that i am calling all of you well meaning cis women poets terfs,

for those of you who do not know – that means trans exclusionary radical feminist

that’s womyn with a y because they want to separate themselves from Men with a capital M but i am a man and i bleed just like you, and lillith fairs and lesbians who will hit up trans men and non-binary people who are assigned female at birth because

we are not recognized as anything but women, and that’s women with an “e”

we

exist

please try and make a conscious shift in changing your language

i knew i said i was going to try and be polite about this and i am still trying

but you, cis women poets, of course you understand about making a conscious shift and trying your best to be heard

while being silenced

and i am not trying to silence you

i am just trying to make some room so people like me can also speak.

please do not claim that your feminism is intersectional when you throw trans men under the bus,

when you romanticize the fuck out of us,

humanize me

i am human

we can only fight this together.