Would you set me upright again,
on my feet again?
Capsized ship – lying on my side,
my belly wide open, torn, vulnerable.
My blood leaking from me,
like fleeing sailors.
Would you help?
Would you care?
Would you do something,
had you been there?
To tell me now that I asked for it?
Ostensibly for existing?
When today’s flavour of street harassment,
turns into full-on assault.
The storm rages across my bow,
and I’m told it’s our fault.
What were we expecting?
When it happens to others;
all you could do was stand,
and stare.
When all you can give is hollow judgement,
what use is your care?
As the next bigot stand over us,
making bodies a mess,
why should trannies complain,
if we insist on wearing a dress?
Charl Landsberg is a transgender South African poet, musician, artist, and writer whose work often focuses on issues of social justice focusing on issues of gender and sex, identity, race, class, etc.
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