how am i supposed to talk to you when i'd much rather have my tongue moving against yours than in my own mouth.

when you call me beautiful i actually believe it, but i know you're still prettier.

"you're a boy? but you look like a girl."
graces my ears too often for it to be innocent anymore.
some days i wish the word woman didn't make me cringe
i wish i didn't have to tell teacher after teacher,
"i know what it says in attendance, but my name is atlas and my pronouns are he/him i'm depending on you not to ***** up, i need this to feel normal, please don't make me feel invalid like all my efforts to erase the young lady i was expected to be at birth will never amount to anything more than a teenager's attempt to be 'different'"
i think sometimes i hate my mind more than my body, because it's the one that does the screaming.

god i wish i had some semblance of a redeeming quality.
i am just reused parts, recycled traits that i thought looked good on other people and wanted to try on for myself.
i wish i was the original "quirky" but i am different in a normal way, or perhaps normal in a different way.
i am all sad eyes and bleeding hearts, a self-proclaimed sensitive soul.
(i'm sure theres thousands.)

some days, i am on top of the world.
i scream conceited, the only thing that phases me is the world's inability to recognize my greatness.
i dont hate myself, i hate the world for not fitting around me the way i want it to.