LGBTQ+ Poetry

Everything I Wish You Knew About Loving Your Trans Son

I’m always only three words away

Painted by Author

I wish you knew
to keep talking
into the silence
filled instead
by your voice
over another’s
message machine
speaking my deadname
across the years
that separate us
like ice picks lost
under glacial water;
I wish you could find
something more
to excavate
from the frosty
ground of our thoughts,
but there’s nothing
left of use to you here.

I wish you knew
that imperfect words
were always warmer
than silence.

I wish you knew
the awful power
of a name
rarely used
until it died
because you knew
I was never
quite a daughter
because you knew
I was just
a single syllable
you kept choking on
until I was reborn
in my own words,
but you never knew
that I could still
become a whole man
without you blessing
my name into being;
I can navigate
the deepest waters
of your silence
and still find treasures
in the light that touches
each wave with reverence
you forgot for the miracle
of your son surviving
yet another ice storm
he got lost in after
you looked away.