Joy Young - Unbuttoning My Boy Shirt 

Smashy FluffehPanda, me too! I don't think anyone has ever so perfectly responded to one of my poems when I was performing. It was beautiful.

Joy Young wait whos sara >.

I've been thinking about this TRANSformer thing for years. Really, who doesn't want to be a robot-alien thing? Writing about being non-binary is challenging and I'm just happy to attach a few words that might expand understanding a little!

Joy Young oh hi...hello...you replied...help...um...YOU'RE PRETTY. ...nailed it.

Steph Smith Things I'll likely never adjust to hearing include but aren't limited to: comments like "you're pretty", compliments about my writing or how my butt is cute (I'm pretty sure my girlfriend compliments my eyebrows and my butt more than anything else and I am always startled by both), and people asking about or using gender neutral pronouns.

Joy Young This may sound weird but I can totally imagine being best friends with you in real life. :) Some of my best memories are of hanging out with the LGBT society at my high school. It was so refreshing because no one there cared about being cool, they were just their dorky crazy funny selves. I think that's awesome, cause some people never learn that life is much more fun that way. Thank you for talking to me :) One last thing I wanna tell you though, you're one of the poets who got me into slam poetry, and poetry in general really. I'm actually thinking about performing one of mine at a show my college's Lit society puts on. :) Also, your girlfriend? Hundred percent right about the ass. 10/10 would stare at again. ;3

Thanks tynichia harris, as a child, I always wanted to be a magician and a hypnotist is kind of like a magician and being able to mesmerize someone is a bit like being able to hypnotize them--so basically, I just achieved a childhood dream of mine.

Thank you for following my work! I would love to see more poems by agender people!

+Joy Young if I ever put any of my work (well works in progress) up on RU-vid I will let you know!

Lake Rose Thank bedder her Mother!!!! :* (: (;

hi, so, ik this was a long time ago, and i feel kind of weird being the first to comment five years later, but as a polygender enby i’d love to do this poem for my school’s competition, and i was wondering if that’d be okay and if you had a transcript i could memorize? thank you so much sorry to bother you btw i’ve watched like 18 other poems and so far i think this is the one i’d like to do best. thank you

. . . read me in binary dress code. One zeroes in . . . This is brilliant.

***** that line is my absolute favourite!!!!

Same here friendo. :)

Yess

I've so appreciated the response I've gotten from queer and other people who connect with this poem. Thanks Sydney Lyon, ***** and Nichole Sinclair

Joy Young I freaked so hard that you responded to this that I couldn't speak for a good minute. I LOOOVE your poetry

Joy Young Thank-you for this poem. "Lesbian presupposes I am always a woman." This perfectly describes me. I've never related to a poem so much. Thanks for helping me to be a little less scared of myself.

pipeismyname But they literally are?? lmao

murqy-chai they don't have as much information about it ... And I think it is pretty cool but nothing you can really choose, arent you ?;? !! People are stuck in categories... Strukture "Clearing// Cleaning ** you seam maybe dufficult to sort √√ you unter one ... And some simply don't accept your free Soul ! It shows that they are locked up in their minds .. or maybe confused , because for them & Media etc pp ITS Not normal.. but only you decide and can learn : don't let such flat thinking bother you ! Stay strong

Joy Young It's amazing how much I relate to your poem and your comment. I find myself listening to this poem at least once a week to try and remind myself that I'm not alone. Thank you for existing. Thank you for speaking your truth, because in a lot of ways it's my truth too.

People shush their kids when they try to ask me if I'm a boy or a girl all the time. I like letting kids talk it out and accidentally break down the binary themselves in the process.

Thanks! I'm hoping to tour some time in the future, so perhaps you will see me one day.

Emily Lauber, that was an incredible experience for me. I've never been spotted by fans and then asked if they could take a picture with me before. It was awesome and new for me. It was great to meet you! I'll be at Utah pride in June, maybe I will be really fortunate and it will happen again. I'll be there to perform, but maybe I'll bring balloons too!

Tegan and Sara, I would assume. A Canadian pop duo; two sisters who are both gay.

Thank you! I hope my work continues to bring visibility to a variety of people who experience systematic erasure!

Thanks 63737. I've been pushing my work to be more honest even when it is uncomfortable for me.

I don't think so?

Tegan and Sara, no h. :)

Thanks Jo Proginoskes for posting my poem!

If my words can get someone thinking, that is the best! Thank you Randi.

+JoyYoung

I'm so glad my work helps people like yourself. Thank you for the kind words Becca Tomlin Right now, I don't have any plans to travel beyond the Southwest and possibly the Pacific North West, but I am working on being able to travel more. Be sure you follow my Tumblr for updates (and poems and things): www.joyyoungpoetry.tumblr.com/

They're gender fluid :)

I don't think it is offensive to ask questions in this instance; I do poems like this as an invitation to discourse around topics that are both personal and political to me. I generally like to identify as queer. You could say that I exist under trans or trans* as an umbrella term, but I don't identify as a man or woman. I identify more as a woman than a man though and so I'm pretty comfortable with labels like lesbian (since that is the majority of my dating pool). If your question is simply what genitals I have, most people would categorize me as a woman. I prefer any terms associated with non-binary gender. Veronica Jane do you want to maybe post some links about non-binary gender? I'm currently working on a piece that addresses this more directly that I will be performing at IWPS this year. Hopefully, I'll post that soon!

AwesomeKitCat I don't think it was offensive, I mean you can't learn to use the right pronouns if you don't ask. Offensive would be making fun of who they are as a person. You're just trying to learn and be respectful and use the right pronouns

I use they/them or she/her depending on how I'm feeling and where I am. I heavily don't identify as male/masculine though I present masculine of center and I very much identify with having been socialized as a woman.

Okay! Thank you. And I wanted to say. You make really good poems!

Yes! I am stoked for the #lightrailplays and excited to be working with Rising Youth Theater.

I feel so lucky to get to sometimes offer people useful words. Not feeling seen weighs so heavily on people and I hope my work at least lets people know I see them and you are definitely not alone.

+Joy Young I've shown this to my (at the time) crush and now I'm getting married to her she helps me in social scenes she's there for me n understands me like she never has before I've started writing poetry of my own she loves it n she appreciates me it's amazing

I'm actually part of a new collective in Phoenix, Convergent Arts, working on programming such as slams (I'm co-slam master), workshops, and open mics. The slam is newly up and running, but the other programming is still more in our heads than real. We are currently looking for funding and building a calendar of events and such. The goal of the collective is to build a more sustainable and diverse lit and performance scene here. The executive board members are fairly active members of various communities coming together. I'm also hosting a show that highlights LGBTQ and other marginal voices (hooray intersectional possibilities!) at Space 55 called Out the Box and looking for performers--specifically, we make room every show for new people who haven't spent much, if any, time on the stage. We launched in February with a truly beautiful show. It was the safest space I've been in for a while. Robo Twitch please friend me on facebook as I post a lot of events there and you can message me for events I'm not involved in the production of, but know about. You can also check out convergentarts.org

Erika Schaefer So, the actual definition of "ladyboy" does not apply to me (if you want to know what it is, you can always check here:www.lmgtfy.com/?q=ladyboy). The nickname came about, as many nicknames do, while walking to the store at midnight through my neighborhood with a friend years ago. My inebriated friend started telling me how much I look like Peter Pan, "but Peter Pan when he's played by a lady, but then Peter Pan is who you are--like you're more boy than lady but you're both like some sort of ladyboy". While I know it's already a thing, someone I am really close with calls me this and means it with absolute love and it means very much to me. My partner now often calls me queerboy/queerboi. Both resonate really deeply with me and make me feel incredibly loved and accepted.

Joy Young That's really cute and great that it comes from such a loving place. I I have met a couple of people that that description works for, but I didn't know how your definition would differ from a more traditional definition. I know it depends on the person, but are there a group of people that identify as as "queerboys" or "ladyboys" in the same way your loving friends and partner mean? Like is that a part of Transgender of is it separate? BTW thank you I really appreciate the dialogue. :)

Thanks so much for watching my work!

I'm good with they/them/their OR she/her. I have a video on my channel that explains this further if you want to know more specifics.

Joy Young thank youu. I usually feel uncomfortable when people use the wrong pronouns for me so i always try to be considerate of other peoples pronouns. (my pronouns are she/her)

I haven't checked comments in a long time (it's always scary to do so). I'm glad I did and I so appreciate this comment as I move back into writing poems, and potentially performing at some colleges this next year.

Thanks so much! I haven't been at anything Button has filmed in a while, but I have new stuff you can keep up to date about on my Tumblr: joyyoungpoetry.tumblr.com

Considering labels is great! We need so much more language to describe ourselves. The other day, Vern Harner was talking about trans*, queer, pansexual, non-binary, etc and remarking on how these and other identities aren't new (people aren't "suddenly identifying in new ways)--it is just that we lost the language and we're only now expanding our lexicon to include words for these ways of being again.

Thank you for the support! I'm actually writing a bit more these days so hopefully I'll go to IWPS in October and do some NEW QUEER POEMS.

Thank you so much. I'm currently trying to write new poems and there's actually quite a few really talented gender queer and non-binary poets out there!

Joy Young Thank you! You’re such a talented writer and I can’t wait to see what you’ve been working on! Also yesss thank god for all the good representation in the poetry scene, it is amazing and so important.

Thank YOU! You’re such a talented writer and I can’t wait to see what you’ve been working on! Also yesss thank god for all the good representation in the poetry scene, it is amazing and so important.

You have to say that because you're my sister, but thanks anyway. One day I'll have a poem about you and/or your children on the internet!