By Jane Barnes
When I contacted my “brother” to make amends, they said they were trans nonbinary so, being bi, I knew I had an ally. We both had suffered my father’s rage.
Since then, we’ve connected in other ways: we’ve both written at least 11 novels and they researched my father’s World War II PTSD, which softened my anger.
We share titles of Asian movies. I tell them about my stroke; they about a sore back. We are Democrats, musicians, and recommend books to each other.
I’m 81 and in NYC. They’re 77 and in Boston. Better late than never. We’re closer than ever and I’m so grateful.
Jane Barnes has published work in BWQ for more than 14 years, and has poems in the Gay & Lesbian Quarterly, Ploughshares, River Styx, The Massachusetts Review, and Wrongdoing. Her work appears in the anthologies Bi Any Other Name and Getting Bi.