‘But you can’t just be nothing’

Special IssuePoetryGenderless Alien — Published March 10, 2021 1 minute

I never claimed to be nothing,
I said I have no gender.
Having a gender isn't a personality trait,
So why do you make it your entire identity?
I may be agender,
But I think I'm still human?
Sure, I'm alien to conformity,
But conforming to pre-existing boxes,
Forcing my identity to yield to the crumbling mould of society,
Only caused me to feel more alien,
More disembodied from my vessel.
Thus, I made my mission on Earth to create two boxes for every label society
misattributed to me,
A Genderless Alien, of sorts.

This article originally appeared in The Gender & Sexuality Issue, published March 10, 2021.