Quentin Grey: Embodied
Photo: Joanna C. Valente
embodied
a seed
come into body.
a seed
earthward in its unfolding.
the expansion of chests
in the thickening of emotion,
a seed cyclically swelling.
i fill my hands with chest
when i hang heavy, swelling
the worlds of feelings
too big for body.
‘all boys have chests,‘
i whisper as i hold lightly
rub across my nipples.
‘all boys have chests,’
i say as i hold on
just a few
moments longer.
i didn’t ask
for my body to be political,
i glare into each of you as i walk, because
i didn’t ask
for my cunt
to be a statement,
boys have cunts, boys have cunts
i didn’t ask
for others to learn from my discomfort,
for others to fight about its existence,
for them to anger at their desires.
all boys have chests &
i didn’t ask to have to tell you
but i sometimes wonder
if i did.
maybe i asked for thousands of years
until my ungendered alien form
was sent to a realm that merged power
into a governing structure
given to a people with bodies
categorized on finite terms.
maybe i asked to feel
the immediacy of projection
on a planet who most readily
sees the body.
maybe i asked,
& maybe i will continue
to rip these projections off
my body, a prayer
a perversion
my body
a splintering
-of all that lies stagnant in your mind-
my body
a spell that shifts
planetary history
each time i wear it in comfort
each time it hangs in shame.
when you see
my naked form
your body expands
to see what it could mean
beyond all other ways it has been told.
Quentin Grey (he/they) is a queer trans faerie and word lover grown and raised on the east coast. He currently resides in Savannah, GA where he obtained a degree in English Literature. His work has been published in LURe Journal and Calliope Art & Literary Magazine. Themes he strongly believes in weaving into the collective reality include trans embodiment, the effects of trauma, color exploration, and plant wisdom. Grey loves to make and read zines, talk to plants, and create with food.
