I Make My Own Freedom

In this ongoing series I explore the continuation and disruption of tradition. Using my grandmothers crochet needle, I make a blanket, a shield of protection over my wife who identifies as trans fem non-binary and myself who identifies as gender fluid. We sit and ponder on the soft love we have molded in our garden, wondering if our ancestors are happy with the latest iteration of themselves. the result is the poetry and images you see below.

Making as Key

You are naked but also covered

What covers you is of your own making

You are liberated on the inside and the outside

You are more than what we see

You are you

There is a gate you can climb

There is a door where your hands are

A key in the crochet needle

That our grandmother also held

And the double stitch

In which mended a certain belief

That you are

of your own making

The New Woman

Ghetto Body

Soft Body

Home Body

No body

Known Body

Bold body

Who sees you?

Big body

Little body

Tall body

Short body

Black body

Gay body

Who sees you?

Weak body

Strong body

Fast body

Slow body

Work body

Work body

Who sees you?

You do.

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I Took Your Braids Out on the Terrace

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Messy: Self Published Collection of Poetry and Photography