This poem was originally published in takahē 104.
Get in loser! We’re consulting the dictionary. Nah, the app, obviously. Kua rite? Taka: (verb) to be completely encircled, to move about, to develop Tāpui: (noun) mark to indicate a claim or right to property (verb) (-a,-tia) to set aside, reserve, book, earmark Takatāpui: (noun) lesbian, gay, homosexual, gay men and women He takatāpui ahau. I claim my right to develop, to move freely, to be completely encircled by aroha and community. I will no longer set this part of myself aside, like a placecard at a formal dinner table. I am the unexpected music of the humble water glass. Leave the cis-hets to their matching pajamas and mass produced holiday cards, their op-eds about the resentments and third shifts of wives everywhere. Just so you know: I wouldn’t deadname a Charizard But I would steal a car.
Featured photo by Neal E. Johnson on Unsplash.
