In- -between

"daddy" and "mommy" - it bothers me

and "parent" is cumbersome

because it doesn't have that familiarity

"brother" "sister"

"aunty" "uncle"

"grandma" "gramps"

"daughter" "son"

words that denote closeness seemingly hard-won

but slippery and slick

hard do grasp at

that closeness, that click

the natural feel of a child tugging at your apron strings

there are no words for me if I have a child

there are no words for them to call me

I'd just be "parent-like-thing"

"mamma" and "pappa" - all the same

a rose by any other name?

a "son" who never was

and could never reach "daughter"

I guess for cis folk: a non issue

your currency ubiquitous like a fish in water

because you have it

you have the words

a problem that seems, at least to you, patently absurd

so I guess it's easy for you

to dismiss this as

"we don't need labels"

you rub it off

forget it

shrugged

dust from your shoulders

of course it doesn't matter to you

because you have the words

while transgender nonbinary folk don't

we're just

in-

-between

with words we crave out of our bones

to grapple purchase with familiarity

with a language that doesn't serve us

it bothers me

this "this/that" mess

that wears pants or a dress

here/there you

and nowhere me

who shouldn't exist, so you don't really see

how we struggle for meaning in our words

"mommy" and "daddy" as fleeting as birds

-o0o-