← cd ..

stand up

By Rae White



Experience in fullscreen

Artist's Note

The trans experience is one that's so often defined in media, by governments, by cis people, as one simple / single / matter-of-fact / impersonal Medical Procedure. The waiting rooms are FREEZING, the doctors sometimes glacial.

I wrote an interactive poem which explores this idea, that UNZIPS the notion of what it means to be trans. Because being trans isn't just about one single thing - it's a medley, a blend, a BUNDLE.

Being trans is about breathing, loving and being; and, in this story, it's about finding small joys and knowing you are loved.
Rae White is a non-binary transgender writer, educator and zine maker. Their poetry collection Milk Teeth (University of Queensland Press) won 2017 Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize, was shortlisted for 2019 Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards and commended in the 2018 Anne Elder Award. Rae’s second poetry collection, Exactly As I Am, will be published by UQP in July 2022.