“Just”

I first started questioning my gender identity in the summer of 2014, on a backpacking trip that changed my life. From the moment of my…

Second-guessing my gender transition

It’s been nearly a year now since I marched out of the City-County Building in Pittsburgh, flush with a court order, around town to update my identity documents. I fought hard for a new name — and a new gender. The spike heels I’d paired with my red polka-dotted…

checkpoint in a rising tide

I love my body.

I loved it before, too,
when it was all thin lines and scruff
and I was finally embracing my Y
(with no shortage of retrospective irony).
Legs which carried me into mountains and across finish lines, 
arms with biceps just the right size…

on bodies, specifically ours

we’re here now,
you and i,
an ally, i can only assume
in full bloom
beneath these sheets

The still-wrapped gift

The bicycle beckoned. “My body aches to be used,” I explained.

It did. The exercise of my body’s raw force brought benefits of mental health, of improved fitness, of a way to enjoy the beautiful day, and even of better sleep.

damn gametes

it’s fortunate, no doubt
for medicine to be so synonymous
with treating a condition

it’s privilege, truly
to take matters into your own hands
and force an institution to
support all your endeavors