Here is the newest submission from the talented Mercury-Marvin Sunderland. Here are a few sentences about the author, “Mercury-Marvin Sunderland (he/him) is a transgender autistic gay man with Borderline Personality Disorder. He's from Seattle and currently attends the Evergreen State College. He's been published by University of Amsterdam's Writer's Block, UC Riverside's Santa Ana River Review, UC Santa Barbara's Spectrum, and The New School's The Inquisitive Eater. His lifelong dream is to become the most banned author in human history. He's @RomanGodMercury on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.”

He says about writing poetry, “I always love to write poetry, and I find that writing about my lived experiences helps me process and understand my world a bit better. I write because giving my voice challenges the stereotypes held about people like me, and shows other people like me that it's okay for them to be themselves.”

I very much agree with Mercury. I think that this is the importance of not only writing, but all other forms of creation and expression: knowing that we are not alone in our experiences and that it is ok to feel them and ok to be our authentic selves. This is so important in a world that is trying to tell us to be anything other than ourselves. I love how open and real you are about your experiences Mercury, thanks so much for sharing with us all.

Feel free to comment on this post or message me with anything that might be coming up for you. I am still accepting submissions for this project until the week of the 7th of June. I would be honored to hear your stories with you experience of oppression. Like Mercury said, expression can help us to not feel so alone in our struggles. It can also help us to learn more about the topic of oppression itself and the very real reality of it that people experience everyday in this country.

I Found a Feather Inside My Vagina

I found feathers

down deep

inside me.

& i don’t mean that

as in metaphor

i mean that as in

i found a feather

inside my vagina.

& i pulled it out

& stared

at this

bizarre atrocity

of a yeast infection.

i most certainly do not

fuck myself with feathers

but my comforter

got ripped open &

it must’ve somehow

gotten in

during my

personal business.

& i laughed

because it was uncomfortable but

not in the way that

i usually feel uncomfortable

with my vagina.

& i know that

i don’t have to use that

& that

lots of men

who love men

are using the other option anyway

but

it’s just a lot of work &

it’s just hard

to love myself sexually

as a trans man

as a gay man

& i’m working but

today i laughed because

i found a feather

inside my vagina.