Onset Gender Dysphoria Meets Quarter Life Crisis
Talon Drake
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I am twenty-six / and sometimes forget / I no longer have to fear the girls on the
basketball team / who hurled out slurs from their seats / in fact they would fear me / my burly
physique / but there’s still parts of me that cringe when people perceive me / still parts of me that
wanted to play on the basketball team / and/or start hormone therapy at thirteen / not only to have
more stamina than they could ever have / but for my self-esteem / to be the real me a little bit
longer in my youth / I am twenty-six / and sometimes forget / I had a youth / because I don’t
want to pay any attention to / their demands / reject who / the mirror reflected / be disgusted
with who / I was / disconsolate with conformity / wish it was that I loved / half of my existence /
I am twenty-six
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Talon Drake is a queer multimedia artist from southeast Michigan. His specialties include graphic design, photography, and performance poetry. Much of his work features themes of neurodivergence, human experience, and queer identity. His writing has been published by Moonstone Arts Center, LEVITATE Magazine, New Words Press, WILDsound Writing Festival, and Sheepshead Review.
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Posted in Pride: June '26 and tagged in #boudin, #poetry, Poetry