I wrote this poem originally two years ago and is the title poem of my book by the same name.\u00a0 I have revised it rather drastically, and much more for the better.\u00a0 I hope it helps celebrate who we are, each other, and our future together.<\/p>\n
Love, Jenn<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Transcendencies<\/p>\n
A Poem for the Transgender Community<\/p>\n
by<\/p>\n
Jennifer Angelina Petro<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We are all transcendent,<\/p>\n
Shining across space and time in clouds<\/p>\n
Of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen;<\/p>\n
Each and every one of us transcends<\/p>\n
Something, or someone, or somehow<\/p>\n
Or someday\u2014just to be able to stand here<\/p>\n
In this very moment, catching our breath,<\/p>\n
Learning to live–<\/p>\n
We all transcend and become\u2014<\/p>\n
It is as simple as that.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Our blood streams are transoceanic,<\/p>\n
Our bodies holy translations of spirit and soul,<\/p>\n
Transcribed onto the pages of the world<\/p>\n
By an Author who knows us by heart and accepts us as we are.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Yes, we are transpierced with pain\u2014<\/p>\n
Every day just leaving our house<\/p>\n
And wondering if we will be safe\u2014hurts.<\/p>\n
Yes, we have been transplanted inside<\/p>\n
And for some the ground grows more certain with every step,<\/p>\n
While others cannot move out of fear for their lives.<\/p>\n
Even as we progress in small ways and big,<\/p>\n
Through a series of seemingly never-ending transversals only to find ourselves<\/p>\n
Transported into more hatred, ignorance,<\/p>\n
And shadow-driven insecurities of so-called, \u201creligious\u201d people\u2014<\/p>\n
We are still here\u2014we will not give up.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We transilluminate boundaries<\/p>\n
That no longer have solid meaning\u2014they never did,<\/p>\n
We are waking up to the truth that gender<\/p>\n
Is not fixed—it is transmigratory\u2014and no longer the transaxle<\/p>\n
Of a tired binary sustained by those who have never even<\/p>\n
Taken the time to get to know their own bodies–<\/p>\n
Let alone love, or transform them into possibilities without shame—<\/p>\n
Even though everything about people like us is transubstantiated<\/p>\n
By living, breathing experience and science—for here we are, and yet we are told<\/p>\n
We do not exist\u2014We are told we do not deserve to exist—<\/p>\n
Even though our lives are based on real, vital, valid, individual,<\/p>\n
And continuous transitions of body and spirit,<\/p>\n
We are still told we are evil, perversions,<\/p>\n
Abominations before god.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
How many more of us will be murdered by transient-thinking men<\/p>\n
Before the world decides it is one more too many?<\/p>\n
What makes transphobic people think they can transpose<\/p>\n
An already faulty belief system onto us to justify or rationalize<\/p>\n
Their unjustifiable and irrational actions and laws?<\/p>\n
Do they really think we will not fight back against their genocidal ways?<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
My dear trans community, let us help transport one another<\/p>\n
And the world, into a time where transcendencies are accepted as commonplace–<\/p>\n
It will happen despite their barbaric ideas—<\/p>\n
We will not be transfixed by their condemning and weakening gaze—They<\/p>\n
Who cannot think past their own shadows\u2014they too<\/p>\n
Will be transformed.<\/p>\n
We are living transmissions of realities<\/p>\n
That shine a light on their small mindedness,<\/p>\n
And we are here to stay.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We are not here to inspire some kind<\/p>\n
Of transcultural revolution\u2014<\/p>\n
We ARE a revolution—<\/p>\n
Every time we step out into the world<\/p>\n
We declare that infinite possibilities exist.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jesus of the transfiguration, came to transmute those who hate<\/p>\n
And to set their limited beliefs on fire;<\/p>\n
Jesus came to give them a spirit-transfusion to flush out<\/p>\n
Both their own self-loathing and their fear of us–<\/p>\n
Those of us, steeped in beatitudes and compassion<\/p>\n
So deep, and forged by pain and marginalization,<\/p>\n
As to be transcribed into living testaments<\/p>\n
Of love\u2019s transcendent power—we will inherit the earth.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Come, haters, shed your mantles of tissue and weariness,<\/p>\n
Shed your tired ideological transparencies, and projections,<\/p>\n
And transmigrate with us to a way of living where Jesus reigns<\/p>\n
Alongside the mother tree and the transdimensional angels<\/p>\n
Singing and dancing for the freedom of all souls.<\/p>\n
For you will transpire\u2014perhaps sooner than you want–<\/p>\n
Life is transonic, yes, but it is death that comes at the speed of sound\u2014<\/p>\n
And when it does you shall be transposed against a backdrop of light<\/p>\n
And seen for how you really lived.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And we\u2014<\/p>\n
We will continue to blossom and unfurl\u2014transcendentalists<\/p>\n
Of power—living rainbows moving ever forward\u2014<\/p>\n
We will continue to be transcendencies of glory,<\/p>\n
And revelations of truth,<\/p>\n
We will transcend you, transmogrify you, transverse you\u2014<\/p>\n
We will ever be here shining a light on your hypocrisies,<\/p>\n
And reveling in the wonder of who we are.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And my beloved trans community,<\/p>\n
May we transcend our own limited ideas of what it means<\/p>\n
To really be trans, may we put an end to policing one another,<\/p>\n
And instead accept one another for our transunique journeys.<\/p>\n
May we all join forces to transfree ourselves and one another.<\/p>\n
For we are all transcendent,<\/p>\n
Shining across space and time in clouds<\/p>\n
Of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen;<\/p>\n
Each and every one of us transcends<\/p>\n
Something, or someone, or somehow<\/p>\n
Or someday\u2014just to be able to stand here<\/p>\n
In this very moment, catching our breath,<\/p>\n
Learning to live–<\/p>\n
We all transcend and become\u2014<\/p>\n
It is as simple as that.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n