International Non-Binary People's Day falls on the 14th of July, which was chosen as it's the midpoint between International Men's Day and International Women's Day. However, we all know that being non-binary is not about being at some midpoint between man and woman. Let's take today as an opportunity to celebrate the right of non-binary people to live and experience gender on their own terms.
Hebe Kearney
in a whirl
i am a new human man and woman
with my yellow, white, purple, and black tail in the weeds
i am a clean bottle corked
i am saving some for later
when ladders spoke i
counted the rungs, my dysphoria
oozed static out my chest
i think i left a heart unguarded inside it,
fluttering in panic
i think i left a dream bone back there,
where i tried and tried to disappear
i think i made a mistake
when i took this thing called girl
and stretched it over me
so tight, so tight
i stitch myself now fresh
onto that same sky
i have always loved as a dish for the moon
when i was frightened it was easy
to black out the rainbow
but i am a new human being now
and i want
to move in space
to take up space
to wholly be
Hebe Kearney (they/them) is a poet who lives in Tāmaki Makaurau. Their work has appeared in several publications, including: Mayhem, Starling, Tarot, takahē, and the Poetry New Zealand Yearbook. @he__be