Originally appeared in Transgender Tapesty #097, Spring 2002.

Tapestry?s 2001 Poetry Contest
First Place


To the Gift of My Body I Give

by Tucker Lieberman

To the gift of my body I give
More and more podules of sunlight!
Raiments of wax cells hold tight
To the gift of my body. I give
Frothings of cardinal madtrack,
Eucalyptus and gold, all flowing back
To the gift. Of my body I give
One great eliminix birthhorse
Heave; one jump from a grand spiral force
To the gift of my body I give.


Tucker Lieberman is a 21-year-old FTM living in Providence, RI. He will graduate from Brown University with the Class of 2002.



Second Place

A Psalm to Our Selves

by Vernon Maylsby

We try to sing our own songs
in the language of our oppressors
Fracture our fragile identity alliance
Along lines of race and class
as taught by our oppressors
We try to define ourselves
with words written by another kind
We see ourselves, distorted, unclear
Through the lens of our oppressors
To sing our songs, to our own souls
We need to see ourselves as we are
A unique and special people, whose seeds
are scattered all over the society spectrum
We are a people represented throughout time
We need wordsmiths, of our kind
To midwife our visions, our definitions
So our speech will speak to us, our hearts
To heal our souls, as we sing our songs.



Third Place

Someone Else?s Words

by Zythyra Basha

Call me Sir, Madam
Mr., Ms.
Boy, Girl
Man, Woman
Dude, Chic
Whatever you need to see
It?s all the same to me
Someone else?s words
That cannot begin to describe my reality

Transvestite, Transsexual
Cross-dresser, Gender-bender
Drag Queen, Female Impersonator
Berdache, Androgyne
Whatever you think you see
Doesn?t look that way to me
Someone else?s words...

How many genders are there?
Does anyone really know?
Does it even matter?
I don?t think so

There are many places to live
Between the boxes labeled
Male
and
Female


Zythyra Basha is a long-time acoustic musician, writer, teacher and activist. Zythyra and partner are co-founders of It?s Time, NH!, a statewide chapter of It?s Time, America!, a national organization devoted to advocacy and education for gender-variant persons and their allies.Zythyra was also a board member of PFLAG-NH for a two year tenure. Zythyra identifies as M2F2? (at least for this week), likes to cook vegetarian food, prefers to not use gender pronouns and resides in the lakes region of NH with partner, child and cat.