This was one of those poems that just comes to you all at once. I wrote this the week I started hormone replacement therapy, an important step in affirming my gender identity. Excited as I was, I was questioning what taking this step said about my identity. It’s not that I wasn’t confident in my choice — it was the opposite, actually. Because I don’t need to transition in this way — or any other — in order for my identity to be valid. Our identities are made up of so many things and, for me, hormones are just one part of that. That’s not to say they’re not an important and vital part. But my identity — especially as a trans woman — is about so much more than my body. Starting hormones helped me understand that and moved me to start exploring what else I’m made of.

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