Poem about gender identity: Daughter

Photograph by Alain Frechette at Pexels

Benji Jakab Marton struggle being perceived as a daughter and battling gender incongruence

She was born golden
like the apples of Eden,
wished for and wanted,
an angel star haunted
by the crust of her flesh –
porcelain doll in distress,
a puppet,
lost girl.

Never shouts, never cries,
wings clipped, halo shines,
paint on face, a disguise –
pain simmers in red eyes,
yet hands clutched to chest
can’t get rid of the pests,
a ghost,
lost soul.

Ever growing, ever blooming,
like iron she corroded hoping
her fists can fit through her head;
an organ wished she was dead,
and the gold slipped off like
a parent’s promise to wipe
a tear,
lost child.

She died in slow motion,
sickness infused erosion,
clinging to a shred of gold;
there was nothing to hold,
just the water trickling down
her throat, ready to drown
a girl,
lost boy.