Tonight, Auckland Pride Festival poetry reading night All the Words of the Rainbow is being held as part of the Alternative Bindings line-up.
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Diane sat down in tears to record on paper the trauma she had experienced.
This poem was the result, writing a poem was something she had never done in all her 72 years of life, surprising even herself.
Diane is a transgender woman, and rights advocate, who now, two years on, feels brave enough to share her words.
Fucking transvestite he said
Frothing hatred at me
So wrong was my reply
I am woman
It did not matter to him
I was the target for all Who are Trans
This is his thinking, truth matters not
The pain he creates means nothing
His hatred must prevail
Hatred must extend
Violence the aim
For this will make in his eyes
Him into a man
His thoughts the better of him gets
Something inside he cannot let go
What more pain can I give!
Trauma terror and stress he thinks
In the darkness he will act
For a man he is not yet
His target he will not face
He will attack and run away
Like a thief in the night
He throws stones and smashes
His belief’s justify his act’s
There can be no defence
He hides unable to be
The man he so desperately desires
An accomplice he seeks
Not a man but a mere boy
Someone immature and easily led
It matters not to him
His hatred must expand
Now he is two
His strength and power all the greater
In his mind
Not yet truly a man
He ignores consequence
He gets caught
But still he proudly states
His hatred for me
And everyone like me
He admits he is homophobic
Like it is a worthy value
He is still wrong
He is Transphobic as well
And the difference he knows not
Sadly
He has not learnt how to be a real man
His hatred remains strong.
Still he knows not the real me!
Footnote:
Diane says the end result, though, was almost magical.
“The young man was arrested and taken to court to answer for his actions, but on one occasion while at the court which he attended at least four times, he turned to me as we were leaving, came up close gave me a hug and told me he was so very sorry. A bit scary at first but so rewarding in restoring my opinion of who I believed he really was at heart – a silly boy. This goes to show the importance of looking further beyond the immediate. However none of that negated the feeling of desperation at the time.”
All the Words of the
Rainbow
6.00pm to 7.30pm
Leys Institute Library, 20 St Marys Road, Ponsonby
Free. Turn up by 6pm
