Can I be your sister? (A Poem from a Trans Woman to Her Brother)
what say you, brother mine? siblings or strangers?
How did this break us … of all things, how was it this?
You have been there all my life, I thought we loved each other
Was it always conditional? Dependent on fitting your plans
Your idea of the perfect family portrait …
Now I don’t seem to fit in, is it one to many aunts now?
Was it really so wrong of me to want to be happy?
Look back at the family snaps you hold so dear
The ones you have decided show the truth
In how many of those am I truly smiling?
Do you see any life in my eyes at all in those photos?
Your first response gave me hope for true kinship
Your actions since? Those have spoken clear and loud
Sidelined me from my dear niece … from my very heart
‘It’s too confusing, we don’t want to scare her with change,’
Taking my title away without replacing, now an unperson in her life
Now someone she barely knows … our special bond torn away
What of my new nephew that I’ve never held, does he even know I exist?
Unable to be around them without lies or deceit! I will not lie, not to them
It’s time, dear brother to decide what we are … What I am to you …
