Substance

Sep 1, 2021 | 2021 Fall - Bodies, Poetry

By Mycah Katz

First it was an injection
The nurse telling me she wanted to be part of my journey
But the suicidal thoughts were like an anvil I couldn’t stop
The gel
was gentler
sometimes my mind was calmer
But every moment of anxiety became hours of anguish

My body never wanted new hormones
I just thought that I was a problem to be fixed
An earthquake to stabilize
Little boys never wanting the tremors I gave them
While I twisted myself into a substance they could handle

I want to be seen
But I have to know that I can see myself
That I don’t need approval to exist as I am
I don’t need to be different to be special

I’m a person who has the privilege to evolve
To show up in whatever form I choose
For I am not grieving

I
AM
HERE

Mycah Katz is a non-binary therapist and soon-to-be PhD student in social work at the University of Ottawa. They write poetry and blog about love, gender, and identity.

Related Articles

A Little Sapphic Sound

By Celine Izsak Say, I want a voice, a wing-singing, small sound, so I can send Tahquitz Twister to tie-dyed tongues— even with the ocean falling from the sky, desert mouths stay dry. When the birds sever the last liquid sunshine, winds wind through the mouths of...

read more

Out at Work

By Jane Barnes When Linda came To pick me up from My typing job and Said Hi honey are You ready?  I died. She was dressed In sports clothes Stood tall at 5’ 8” I was proud and appalled. Jane Barnes has published work inBWQfor more than 14 years, and has poems in Gay...

read more