My second post this evening is sharing from the amazing anthology, GenderFux, which features poetry from Jem Henderson, Jonathan Kinsman and JP Seabright. “GenderFux is the collaborative work of three immensely talented poets whose work all exists in the same uncomfortable but enduring space. These poems are bursting with the desperation to be heard, and they leave you enveloped in the rich worlds sketched on the page, and the haze of everything else left unsaid in the margins […] GenderFux is a masterclass in full and complete portraiture that doesn’t leave anything out. It is tongue-in-cheek, brutal, evocative and electric – and will leave you with their words ringing in your ears” (Kathryn O’Driscoll 2022). GenderFux has also been nominated for best collaborative work at Sabateur Awards Festival 2022.
I hope you enjoy the three poems I have selected to share (and I am praying when I hit publish it does not mess up all the wonderful formatting these poems have! Forgive me if it does). You can buy a copy of the anthology here and enjoy the wonderful shapes of all of the poems featured.
‘birthday candles’ by Jonathan Kinsman
look closely now,
can you see her, there in the flame?
a swaying charcoal dancer,
her arms raised high
in the ecstatic conflagration,
this pink and white spiral staircase
collapsing beneath her,
and across the glazed skyline
every tower goes up in reverence,
the darkness alight with song
babylon burning
for your sake.
don’t think of your father
ascending floor after floor
wax ceilings collapsing
over his shoulders
sweet powder in his eyes as he
searches, sugar in his lungs.
he’s here, match pinched
between finger and thumb,
laughing through
a flat happy birthday,
dear amy,
make a wish.
‘changeling in the cottage’ by Jem Henderson
stolen milk breath from the cot
replaced that mewling pudgy girl
with this – it does not cry in the night
like she did
only stares at you, it’s eyes
blue as clear dusk
you gathered up
the mushrooms stewed
in tea until the good came out
through shimmering waves
and a clarity
like a hand to the throat
they showed you
father rocks it gently
although it does not sleep
you hold it to your chest
and try to feed even though
its grasping fists
and toothed mouth fill you
with grey
filthy waves
it grows – you feed it nuts and berries
meat and milk of the goat
honeycomb so sweet
it makes your jaw hurt
sweets for the sweet
anything to stop the bitter words it speaks
it doesn’t play with other girls
preferring to fight with sticks-as-swords
tumble down until its knees are bloody
and you have to clean them with boiled water
say this might hurt
not expecting the crimson of blood
it comes to you and father
says it does not belong
says it’s not a girl
you knew all along
praying for the day
that it’d go to its kind
and bring your baby girl back
‘Variable Penetrance’ by JP Seabright
I am a construct / of parts
/ dissembling / reassembling
not one thing / I am everything
/ all potentialities / nothing
neutral / neutered / nubile
/ a pot of possibilities / at the end
of the rainbow / some days
/ I wear all genders at once / other days
none / but I do not / feel naked
/ my blood / my identity / my bones & limbs
my breasts / my cock / my cunt / my clit
/ my father’s hateful / nose & eyebrows
my mother’s hateful / cleft chin & neuroses
/ I do not define myself / nor my inheritance
my variable penetrance
References
Henderson, J., Kinsman, J. & Seabright JP (2022) GenderFux. North Pennines: Nine Pens
Nine Pens (2022) GenderFux [online]. Available from https://ninepens.co.uk/genderfux [14 April 2022]
~The H Word~ by Hazel Urquhart 
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