The 14th of July is Non-Binary People's Day, a day to celebrate those whose gender falls outside the binary! We're celebrating Non-Binary People's Day with poetry by Lucy McLean and Rhys Feeney.
Lucy McLean
the float tank can get a bit claustrophobic for those with multitudes
There was once a girl who knew nothing about anger
except that the sea felt it too:
She’s long gone
at first, replaced by civil niceties
and gender dysphoria
at second, pronouns got added to corporate emails
and the flames on her 2004 chuck taylors
got so hot she had to go to immerse herself
in the Employee Assistance Programme float tank
which was merely a proxy for the ocean.
Outside feelings felt inside
made civil niceties untidy but
the sea doesn’t care who you are.
I once wished the waves would take me away,
my solution for not wanting to live
was simply to turn myself in.
The sea scolds me for being so foolish
spits me back out, again and again
I don’t care who you are, but you belong with the living.
Now I try to ride distant storms
I’m coast to coast smiles as onshore gales flip me over and
I get back up,
uncontained.
Rhys Feeney
oh baby ooh give me the time of my life
when pitbull said
on track four of the 2014 platinum-certified album globalization
THIS IS FOR EVERYONE GOING THROUGH TOUGH TIMES
BELIEVE ME BEEN THERE DONE THAT
i felt tht
i felt tht so much i pulled my car over on petone beach
went outside took a deep breath
smelt the seaweed detritus
a whole forest washed ashore from last night’s storm
i felt tht so much i didn’t check the backseat for skinwalkers
i felt tht so much my withdrawal headache dispersed
like the innocence of believing in politicians
i felt tht so much i slipped into a daydream
where i was wearing gumboots &
shoveling seaweed into a bucket to spread on my vegie garden
where i wasn’t driving to work again @ 7:30am
but was carrying a cute hammer on a cute toolbelt
on an off-grid farmstead safe from the metaverse
when pitbull said
HAVE ME A GOOD TIME BEFORE MY TIME IS UP
i forgot all abt my quarter-life crisis & house deposit spreadsheet
tht stretches until halley’s comet returns
i forgot all abt the antivaxxer parent who yelled at me down the phone
i forgot all abt my plans to learn spanish from pitbull songs
so tht i could move to colombia to avoids repaying my student loan
when pitbull said
FORGET ABOUT BILLS AND THE FIRST OF THE MONTH
IT’S MY NIGHT YOUR NIGHT OUR NIGHT LET’S TURN IT UP
i thought he said gills
i watched the harbour churn in shades of livid
the fish underneath missing their forest
but still live laugh fishing in the moment
not regretting their online shopping spree
just vibing in the genderless expanse of silt & refracted sunlight
i wish i could join them cursing the fool who climbed out
& put them in little crumbed bars
& told my parents they were suitable for every meal
when pitbull said
SHE A FREAKY GIRL AND I’M A FREAKY MAN
i had a moment of gender euphoria
i could be both
the lungfish & the e-girl
there are still at least a couple of years left
a couple of years left to listen to pitbull on the way to work
a couple of years to spend w my beautiful friends
before they all get married
& have ugly babies
Lucy McLean (she/they) is a queer try-hard surfer who would really really like to own a sparkly pink electric jeep. They work in mental health but low-key still thinks she could be a famous pop-star one day; queering imaginary futures is the best form of fun.
Rhys Feeney (they/them) is a high school teacher in Te Whanganui-a-Tara. Their debut poetry chapbook, 'soyboy', was published in AUP New Poets 7 (2020). They spend too much time on the internet. @rhysfeeney24