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Opera for Feminine Otherness
Demigirl Definition
A space between
Androgyny and conventional binaries of female identity
A gender not recognized by mainstream policies
And subjected to the far corners of the Q+ community
Act 1: Physicality
I am a tangled mess of tree limbs
With coils blessed by God
Skin, a milky chocolate brown
I trace the bumps around my knuckles
My fingers map out the uncharted waves of pink stretch marks
That caress my torso
Act 2: Personality
I am trapped in a fish bowl
Eyes distant behind the shadows of twists
And Afro Sheen bottles
I sing to myself in the shower
Broadway lights rain down,
Warmer than the steady stream of water
Pouring down onto my face
I stare at my legs with sorrow
Wondering why can’t the thighs thin?
Why can’t the bruises on my knees kneel down
To the power of Band-Aids and cocoa butter?
Interlude
I am not woman nor man
I am alien, the Lord’s creation
In a body that still has not grown to its full potential
I am still but a lump of clay
That has not been fully formed by the hands of divinity
Act 3: Artistry
I am always a genius, never normal
Always the machine
That can only bring
My intelligence to the table
I work into the stars of my future
Crash and burn into millions of particles
I never meant for the scars and cuts
To be permanent markers of self hatred
I never meant for my escape from reality
To be a betrayal to my own sanity
Act 4: Acceptance
I am a metaphor for metamorphosis
An ever changing melody of gender fluidity
I am the culmination
Of all that has come before me
Demigirl or Nonbinary can’t begin to encompass
The intricacies of my identity
For I am an opera for feminine otherness
Copyright ©
Elisha Jackson
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