i am not deaf
the way
my lineage is deaf
not deaf
the way
America is deaf
not deaf
the way
my president is deaf
not Deaf
the way
DEAF-PREZ-NOW is Deaf
not deaf
the way
my family is D/deaf
not Deaf
the way
DEAF-WAY is Deaf
not Deaf
the way
DEAF-WORLD is not deaf
not deaf
the way
my culture is deaf
not deaf
the way
my culture is Deaf
not Deaf
the way
my culture is Deaf
not Deaf
but not deaf, either
Originally printed in Troubling the Line: An Anthology of Trans and Genderqueer Poetry & Poetics (EOAGH Press, 2013). Copyright © 2013 by Meg Day. Used with the permission of the author.
Meg Day
Meg Day grew up in California’s Bay Area and received a BA from the University of California, San Diego, an MFA from Mills College, and a PhD from the University of Utah, where Day was a Steffensen-Cannon Fellow and poetry editor for Quarterly West.