Sadie Kaye

Sadie Kaye / Kelsie Galileus lives in Birmingham (UK) and writes poetry and fiction.

She frequently performs at poetry slam / open mic events in the Birmingham area. She organises a spoken word event called Birmingham VOICES, see Instagram or Meetup.

Much of her work is a response to her experiences of being trans. She is also an artist and has exhibited paintings in the west midlands area. She has published a book of poems and paintings called "Kelsey Galileus's loves, deeds and opinions" available here.

Contact Sadie Kaye at sadie314159 (at) gmail (dot) com

I’m not transphobic

I’m fully woke,

the same as you—

Vive la différence!

I respect you

but I have my preference,

so you must always respect me too.

I am polite;

I have good manners;

I have points of view;

So don’t impose on me yours!

Don’t give me such a talking to!

But I must know,

is your body

fully female?

Oh.

That means I can’t talk to you.

You produce in me so much

unbearable

triggering

psychological

torment

and I can only communicate

with folks whose genitals I can appreciate. . .

On being in a toxic relationship with yourself

I.

Beyond negative health

and blame,

your critic says to a stranger,

Ignore the rise of boundaries,

depleted, intruded,

our own monologue is real.

Face masks and candles have gestures;

feel the time and traits slipping from chaos

to tranquillity.

Step away:

an imposter buzzes a spiral of style.

II.

Your critic is real;

masks and candles have gestures—

feel time slip away.

Emergence

You ask me, have I fully transitioned?

Ummm. . . what can I say?

Maybe you mean like a caterpillar?

I’d curl up tight

and make myself

a cosy cocoon;

withdraw from the world for a while,

eventually emerging

fully formed:

a brand new butterfly.

I never heard of a human that can do it:

I would if I could.

Would you say I’m beautiful?

I think that you should.

I unfurl my wings for the first time;

see my colours, how they glisten —

would you compliment me on them?

I really don’t know. . .

But I strongly suspect

that you’d disapprove

of my hairy body.