SEARCHING FOR A FLAG
Gay Mart is out
of trans flags
on back order
since pride parade
I ask the owner
can you order more?
his white hair replies
call me in a month
if you haven’t
changed your mind
by then
THE PLURAL, THE BLURRING
After Langston Hughes’ “Theme for English B”
I am twenty two
white and Jewish
born in Chicago.
I went to college in vermont.
Came back home to attend
the art institute downtown.
I am the only Trans person
in most class rooms
in most rooms.
I ride the red line
home to Edgewater
where Trans people live
down the block.
Straight america, I hear you
on the radio, on the streets
advertising gaycations
and gay friendly apartments.
What about people
who never get a week
off from work.
Who don’t have a roof,
shower, doctor or job.
I like a few straights.
I like the gays who
don’t call me she.
I’d like my mother
to call me by my real name.
Being Trans doesn’t make me
not like my mother.
She is a part of me.
She is apart from me.
She is not me.
I am They. That’s American.
The plural. The blurring.
It’s clear. We’re here.
Forever.
I’D RATHER BE BEAUTIFUL THAN MALE
22×30 inches, gouache and glitter on arches paper
Mark is in the studio
a thrift store couch
a sewing machine
& white walls
putting on lipstick
fringe mesh tank
black heels
shaping rope
to fit the frame
of a friend
call out queen
had us all
tied up
left us
to undo
the knots
ourselves
________________________________________________________________________________________
H. Melt is a poet and artist who was born in Chicago. Their work proudly documents Chicago’s queer and trans communities. They’ve recently been published by Chicago Artist Writers, Lambda Literary, and THEM, the first trans literary journal in the United States. H. Melt is the author of SIRvival in the Second City: Transqueer Chicago Poems.