Cover Image: Nsikan Abasi
i used to tell people i was gay, and now
i just walk out the door and let them take an
informed guess–i say i’ve stopped coming out,
but really i’ve just stopped trying to pass,
let random dudes’ assumptions carry me through
the bulwark of expectation toward a utopia
i didn’t ask for—i long to pass
not as a boy but simply as a creature
as an amalgam of every glitch in the pattern
that their minds wrap around like molded cloth
to pass through the walls and borders toward
something undefined. to pass out without ever
fully losing consciousness of what makes me
a trans(gression). i used to tell people i was gay,
mainly to get out ahead of any potential mockey,
but now at least i know that
i’m giving them something to talk about.
mk zariel {it/its + masc terms} is a transmasculine neuroqueer poet, theater artist, movement journalist, and BashBack aligned anarchist. it is fueled by folk-punk, Emma Goldman, and existential dread. the author of VOIDGAZING (2026, Whittle Micropress), it can be found online at https://mkzariel.carrd.co/, creating conflictually queer-anarchic spaces, writing columns for Asymptote and the Anarchist Review of Books, and being mildly feral in the great lakes region. it is kinda gay ngl.
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