Photography © Chad Parenteau

 

One Day

My voice feels unfamiliar to my ears
And my hips are the cause of my tears.
My chest isn’t flat
And when I see a cis man it makes me sad.

Looking in the mirror makes me feel sick
And none of my body parts feel like they fit.
I feel like I’m not going to make it
And it’s unfair to feel that when you’re just a kid.

When I open Instagram the comments hurt,
“You’ll always be a girl.”
But among every ten mean comments is one that goes
“I’m proud of you, I hope you know.”

And for every time someone calls me a slur
There’s always a person who says, “Enjoy your day sir.”

For every three times I see a conservative
Making it harder for me to live,
I see a trans man,
Confident, with long hair,
And I think, “One day I will be like him. One day I will be free.
And I know that day will not come soon, but one day I can be me.”

 

Kai Valentine is a queer teenage author. They use they/them and he/they pronouns and dream of writing characters who like them that they didn’t see growing up because they were “too difficult to write.”

Chad Parenteau is Associate Editor of Oddball Magazine.