I'm tired of terms like his and hers
and everything in between
I'm tired of prefixes that make me feel small
like Trans or any gender at all
I just want to be plain old me
and be the person that I am
and just be liked for being myself
not curiously questioned at all
I was born a Mark, but feel like a Laura
Its really to hard to explain
Just call me what I seem to you
That's perfectly fine with me.

Lj Mark 2015

To be free from the closet that bound me.
To be able to see through new eyes.
To be openly joyous and happy.
To no longer feel need to live lies.

Lj Mark 2015

For a long time now this heart of mine has been stirring
And this male body with a male name I have has been learning

What it means to wake up and be female inside
And every morning have this mind and body collide

I live by new rules now, I nurture and protect
I desire life's beauty and want that to project

But it's evident that soon I'll need a new name
Something with meaning like the scent after rain

I have a twin sister who died at our birth
And I often think of her lovingly here on this earth

And what better way could I keep her inside
Than by taking her name and making it mine

In so many ways Laura was just like me
And soon when I'm called by her name she can see

How very much I love her
And have kept her alive in me

Soon for everyone
in this world to see

by Lj Mark, 2015

Sometimes the past becomes the future.
When I was a teen, I wondered what the future would hold.
Then as the years went by,
I began losing hope and the will to keep going.
Then as the end felt inevitable, I rediscovered
myself, and found new truth inside of me.
I felt anew much like I did at times as a teen.
A whole new start. A whole new gender.
A complete and whole new person.
As the future and past intertwine
and make me who I am today.

by Lj Mark 2015

People ask why I don't talk of the past
Those good ol' days everyone should have
I always look away whenever they ask
For my happy days started later than that

Before I came out I lived in a box
Stifling and small with what felt like a lock
Then one day recently I found my way out
I escaped forever from my screams and shouts

You wouldn't understand unless you were there
How frustrating it was, I was hiding so scared
Like a closet of darkness I've always lived in
Feeling condemned like I'd committed some sin

I broke my way out of that dark ugly box
Made only for males and for only male thoughts
Finding beautiful senses and thoughts and things
Now I am where i should be and wanting to sing

by Lj Mark

Born a boy...
Baseball, music, skateboards...
Puberty comes and goes...
Suicidal thoughts...
The only answer to stop the pain...
Too scared to follow through...
18 and life, my body is a prison...
My body breaks mirrors...
Dysphoria, a word never heard...
Lost, never knowing why...
Alcohol finds me...
The perfect medication...
I laugh, I live...
It hides all the pain...
Year after year...
It's all i know..
There's still something inside...
Something pushing...
Calling, wanting to get out...
It got to be too much...
Then eighteen months ago...
The pain got too much...
My liver was destroyed...
I thought it was the end...
I met a person...
Heard the word transgender...
Some others took me...
Taught me, cared for me...
One day the light came on...
After all these years of tears...
The answer was so simple...
All the pieces fit perfectly...
I was transgender, and never knew...
Now I'm free...
Im so happy for the first time to be me...
I'm transgender..!

We're pushed away and stepped over
When we're not being scoffed at and ridiculed
We wonder where our strength comes from
How we get up over and over and over again

Trans or Gay, or sometimes both
We all get treated the same
Hurt by words that get thrown at us
So often that only tears remain

But strong we are, those that are left
Too many gone, from pain and distrust
We take a breath, wipe off the spit
And keep fighting to live another day

The world cries for unity, for rights and equality
But somehow we always seem to lose
The rights and equality seemed destined for us
Given to those the majority choose to see

We sink in our hearts, hold on to each others hands
Dreary of the battle, left empty from the fight
Trans and Gay, stand arm in arm
Ready for tomorrow, hoping for an end to the fight.

by Lj Mark, 2015