"Dysphoria Myth" by Seth Jani

Dysphoria Myth

I remember feeling the weight of my body
at an early age. The tuning fork of chromosomes
making me a stranger in the only form I knew.
The quiet dislocation, as if exiled from inside.
I spent my life looking to clear the lines,
to find the moon in the dark water.
The earth glowed with false perceptions,
the radium of nonbeing smeared across the sky,
the windows tumbling with paper light.
One day the secret of transformation
would be found like a golden egg
in the nest of adders. Or so I told myself
through the long passages of denial,
through the journey taken to avoid the center.

Seth Jani

Seth Jani lives in Seattle, WA, and is the founder of Seven CirclePress (www.sevencirclepress.com). Their work has appeared in The American Poetry Journal, Chiron Review, Rust+Moth, and Pretty Owl Poetry, among others. Their full-length collection, Night Fable, was published by FutureCycle Press in 2018. More about them and their work can be found at www.sethjani.com.

Headshot: Ann Jani

Photo Credit: Jackson Purcell