Many Roads Ahead: An Intersectional Feminisms Poem

A poem for my students
inspired by the Fall 2019 syllabus

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At this moment, I would like to offer a blessing

An expression of the good I wish for you and from you.



I wish for you the drive to do something worth doing

And the courage to do it badly.

I wish for you the fun and equity of femininity, whatever you gender

because on the basis of sex, sex is power and power is sex.

I wish for you full lives and not empty vases

The ability to define gender for yourself, even when it’s a drag.

I wish for you that family will be a mark of your liberation

And that you remember that liberty when you find yourself deep in a mystique



I wish that you don’t let those bastards get you down

Because you can see the resistance all around you, if only you know their colors.



I wish for you hard choices and active debate rather than easy subjugation,

Even when giving up and giving in seems rich and sparkly.

I wish for you to do well and do good

And that you always remember the power you have, even to leave.



Wish for you to fight the good fight

And perhaps even enjoy the fight at times; safe, sane, and consensually.



May you not be drawn into pyramid schemes of power and success,

Even as you carry the stones of the mountain inside you.



May you be called your true names

And may you remember their power.

May you turn the hate given to you

Into grace, voice, and love that is stronger.



May you find rest in safe islands,

But be mindful that the institutions that support us may also confine us.



May you find love and affirmation even for your secret hearts,

And may you find the courage to share them with others.

May you remember that rarely does life give us true binaries,

Even as we may play with those tensions, to the anxiety of others.



May you recognize a perfect day when you get one

May you know when to hold on and when to let go.



In the end, while we have explored feminisms past and present

The best gift I can give you on the way into the unknown

Is a method on how to face those challenges but challenges will come



Conflict will come and its forms are yet unknown

But you have practiced the method for facing these threats

To analyze, to engage, and to adapt.

To analyze to field and determine if you are in the right position

And to analyze the dangers to know the greatest threats.

Then to engage a problem, eschewing the unnecessary actions,

Hitting the pressure point be it pleasure or pain.

Finally then to respond to the accounts waged against you

Adapting and growing from what you learn, even in failure.



And now our seminar comes to an end.

And as you go forth, I wish good for you and from you.

May your goods and your futures come in as many forms as ways as there to to be a woman.

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Dysphoric Dreams: A Poem for a Transgender Literature Seminar

A poem for my students
inspired by the Fall 2019 syllabus

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At this moment, I would like to offer a blessing

An expression of the good I wish for you and from you.



I wish for you to remember that stereotypes are like all forms of print

They erode, break down, and change unless we adapt them to new media.



May you find new meaning on the road from here to elsewhere

And good friends, magical or otherwise to travel with you.



May you face transformation and the unknown with a sense of mystery

And deep understanding of the truths that will live through our desolation.



May you find beauty and joy in your sex and gender

Especially when that beauty comes with great cost



May you find many other words to describe yourself

Including all the selves you will be across your life.



May you pack your gender backpacks with wisdom and care

And may you have the strength and realness to carry the hardest louds.



May you have the power to cry, whatever your gender

Because we will face tearful things in the future.



May you find things worth fighting for

And may you have to strength to carry on through losses.



May you find a flag worth defending

And a community who will have you back in turn.



May you remember that confession means “to speak together”

And that our myths can be as powerful as our realities.



May you find belonging, even on alien planets

Because you may find the world you thought you knew was stranger than you believed.



May you define your own realness and love

Because the reality and love you are given may fail.



May you protect and care for yourself,

Even when it seems the whole system of hell is made to grind you down.



May you find transcendence in the power of story

Because stories are magic and it is a magic that lives within you.



In the end, while we have explored literature past and present

The best gift I can give you on the way into the unknown

Is a method on how to face thoce challenges but challenges will come



Conflict will come and its forms are yet unknown

But you have practiced the method for facing these threats

To analyze, to engage, and to adapt.


To analyze to field and determine if you are in the right position

And to analyze the dangers to know the greatest threats.

Then to engage a problem, eschewing the unnecessary actions,

Hitting the pressure point be it pleasure or pain.

Finally then to respond to the accounts waged against you

Adapting and growing from what you learn, even in failure.



And now our seminar comes to an end.

And as you go forth, I wish good for you and from you.

May your goods and your futures come in as many forms as ways as there are to tell a story.

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