I'll dress the dandy to transcend
the disconnect I'm forced to embrace
by the virtue of gender's stamp
applied at the time of birth
a joke that's secret from the crowd
who assume the normative
a standard lived by the crowd
except those who fight the odds

the dice was rolled by the gods
a mold removed from the shelf
into the latter I was poured
with snake-eyes on the die
this departure moved with stealth
a theme repeated through the years
into the realm of decades' span
until I resolved to respond

acknowledgment was far to slow
the baby steps now comical
even as friends observed
something forming in front of them
in hind-sight the deed was done
with understanding far behind
until at last the consciousness
understood the schemes of life

still society would have a say
given what they had at stake
awareness begged me to step away
from the contracts that held sway
the ink becomes a rigid bond
with blood just as strong
demanding due to the chains
fighting freedom now held true

the response to this cage
identity lost to the rules
is to bend my present style
towards what I’m now denied
the splash of glam will come across
with a dash of dandy and then some
winking broadly until that day
my gender is stated for all to see.

© 2019. Sean Green. All Rights Reserved. 20190306.