Daughter-Me by Dally Du Mez

To be daughter is to be Creature

stitched together by unstable hands

Abandoned at the first sign of life

in your eyes and left among people

who speak a language you don’t know

and cannot learn

It is to be genderless and perform

femininity that fits like a winter coat

two sizes too small

over a bulky wool sweater

Fabric on itchy fabric that makes you sweat

desperate to get it off, off use your Teeth

if you have to

To be Daughter is to be self-fulfilled prophecy

handed down through stern words and

taken in

to the back of the throat

so the words cannot get out

and you cannot ask for help

from the people you love

It is to be non-human and heavy with knowledge

blind to yourself but cursed with Sight

of everyone else

The future dawns on you and drowns

in the white-hot morning

To be daughter is to be separate

different, somehow, in some way

you cannot give name to

Contradictions make you interesting

but you are tired of being contradictory

and want congruence like you want

the Dusk: cool, soft, inviting

To be daughter is to be left, wanting for

comfort and touch and attention and desire and quiet and Place and proof

that you are real

that you are enough

Giving it all to others and telling yourself

it satisfies