I Can’t Imagine Being Black

If beings trans

Is anything, at all like

Transgressing a racial boundary

Then I can’t for the life of me

Imagine being black.

Gender is pre-assigned,

The same way race is pre-assigned

By god and her plan for what’s next, but

Thanks to modern medicine

I can, overtime, become a man

I hope to cross the other side

And experience their treatment.

Michael Jackson turned himself white—

But unless you are one of the

Richest and most successful pop stars

In modern history, comparable to

Pan himself, honestly— you probably

Won’t be able to be trans-race

Also arguably, Michael Jackson

Never achieved whiteness, despite a

Lifetime of efforts to achieve it.

Plenty of trans folk never pass—

I see parallels everywhere with this.

Again, I can’t imagine being black !

I don’t think any of them want to be white

I just can’t help but notice that

The protocols within society are alarming.

Except for Michael—who had a clear motivation

To try and be the white pop guy

To try and cross the fence that

White peoples built, constructed just right—

Just too high for the other side, but

Has steps built for us to traverse, “learn”, spectate—

Come back to our white.

I didn’t ask for this the same

But again, I have privilege

I have very pale, fair skin

My Transness does nothing about this

I am blessed beyond belief, however

I know that there are massive differences

Between where I am and from whence I came

I can’t imagine being black

Without the gaslighting driving me insane

I can’t even imagine, I mean —

There are no differences between us

Other than the ones we make