"You'd Look So Pretty" a poem by Miranda

An original poem by Miranda

Intro

This is the poem I read to my wife of 16 years (it’ll be 18 years in March!) the night I came out to her as a trans woman. It might seem like an odd choice considering there’s a part about being assaulted in a middle school restroom because a bully perceived me as “acting girly.” I guess I wanted her to know that the girl was always there and that she had been afraid.

Thankfully, this woman has much more strength and courage now.

The poem is below, followed by a video of me reading it (podcast of my poem audios coming soon).

💜Miranda📚

You’d Look So Pretty

Why did God waste those damn lashes
on a boy? They would say that, the ones
who loved me. At school, they fluttered

too long in the murky mirror
while moths flittered against the light
in the blue bathroom. In that dull

mirror, I hypnotized myself
(didn’t hear the boots behind me),
floated out the tri-pane window,

to spring, when my sister’s best friend
pulled me away from the slumber
party, pulled me into the cold

bathroom we all shared, and drew
bubbles in the tub. Her ankle
butterfly disappeared. It’s fine,

she said, handing me her razor,
you won’t cut me. She wove her soft
fingers between mine and pressed.

I saw his brown mop of hair first
when he came in the door but late,
too late to land—eyelashes fluttered.

It was too late to crawl inside
my broken chrysalis. You’d look
so pretty as a girl, he said

(just like the ones who loved me). Then,
he stomped me out with his black boots.

My Reading