#jay jerbi

[collectingpoetry]

ID in alt text and below cut

[Visual ID: two screenshots of a poem, black text on white background. Text reads:

How Did You Know You Were Trans? by Jay Jerbi

i know it like i know my name.

i know it like i know that i cried when reading Mary Oliver for the first time.

i know that when i was young i dreamed of sprouting wings.

i know that when i was young i forgot my father’s face when he was deployed.

i know it like salmon migration.

an unconditional need to return

even if it takes me years.

i know it like my heart surgery.

muscle stitched carefully together

raw and vulnerable.

i know it like the end of the world.

i know it like i believe in love

despite it all." End ID.]