That Cursed Pipe

Ever since I read one of my TransGriot poems during the BTMI event,  I've wanted to do more poetry slams if I can find the time and the venues that fit my schedule.

I do need to write and post more of my poetry on the blog in the future for those slow news days and weekends and to keep those skills sharp.

I needed to get out of the house last night, and with Carter making another trip down I-45, I got to hang out at Club ISIS in downtown Houston with him, Tye West and two more BTMI members for a few hours. 

Club ISIS back in the early 20th century was the original silent movie theater and three level performance venue space in H-town that has been renovated and can be (and is) rented to host a wide range of events.

One of the things that was going on there last night was a poetry slam entitled 'The Vagina Monologues' which wasn't even close to the Eve Ensler play that has an all trans version BTW, but in which the vagina was the central theme of many of the poems performed by the African descended people in the room. 

There was also a vendor area when you entered Club ISIS with several female entrepreneurs selling goods and services.  BTMI had an information table there that I kept Tye and Carter company at as the DJ played a nice mix of music.

The poetry slam got started around 7:30 PM.  Tye read one of his poems and I was so inspired by him and some of the other people reading at the event I pulled out a mini notepad and pen I keep in my purse,  scribbled this poem in 20 minutes, then stepped to the mic and performed it to an appreciative audience judging by the post performance feedback I got.

Hey, I'm blessed with mad writing skills like that.   Unfortunately it wasn't recorded.  It didn't occur to Carter and Tye to tape it until I was done.   

After I stepped away from the mic, the poetry slam concluded.   I sat down at the BTMI table and ended up being approached by several cis women in the audience who wanted to know what life was like for me and other transwomen.   Since they graciously asked, I took the time to do a Trans 101 segment and break it down for them as Tye did so from the transmasculine spectrum.

I also ended up with a few business cards for the organizer and other folks who want me at the next poetry slam they organize.

But here's the new for the 2K13 MKR poem I performed at Club ISIS, entitled 'That Cursed Pipe'  

***

That Cursed Pipe
An MKR Poem

Doctor slapped me on the butt
Mom's bundle of joy
Then he announced, "It's a boy!"
Dude, stop lying
I'm a girl with a stick for a vagina

Fighting for my femininity
They still can't see
Phenomenal transwoman
Too many of us dying
Because we want to trade the stick in for a vagina

Kunaporn, Menard, Brassard
Bowers, McGinn
Have the skills to turn the stick
from an out to an in

But I don't have 20K
For that trip to Thailand
And get the snip and tuck
And y'all fail to understand

Not all women have vaginas
Some of us aren't born with one
Femininity is way more
Than what's between your legs, hon

Don't call me he/she
Shemale, shim
Can't control the fact
I was not born a she but a him

But I got here as fast as I could
I got the snip and tuck
It's paid for with the blood
Of all the transwomen who didn't have my luck

To thrive, survive and stay alive
And know what it's like
To have a new vagina
Instead of that cursed pipe