The Road Not Taken: A Case For Trans Non-Binary People
What Robert Frost’s iconic poem showed me, after viewing it with a new lens
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I —
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.— Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken”
Like many others, I’d always thought Robert Frost’s famously influential poem, “The Road Not Taken” was an ode to good old-fashioned American grit; a reflection on the can-do spirit of individualism and choice that embodies what we collectively know as the American Dream. But recently, while deep diving into more text and research — to learn the story behind the story, so to speak — I discovered “The Road Not Taken” is not at all about what I’d presumed. In fact, it’s one of the most misunderstood poems ever written.
Reading from a different, more thorough and careful perspective, I found it was even more relevant. For me, specifically, seeing these words through this new lens was not just uncanny; it was a whole paradigm shift. It paralleled my lived experience as a mother raising three teens, the youngest of whom is transgender non-binary (pronouns they/she). Its theme represented something I’ve been struggling…
