My grandmother sews up the elbows of my shirt.
Patched and patterned, in garish colours
Outlandishly clear. A kind of cloth kintsugi, saying
This is not that which was here before.
Ostentatiously altered, openly repaired,
A virtue signal, I accept, but will not apologise for.
I walk the streets with solarpunk written on my arms.
Andrew sews up the flaps of my skin.
Carefully sutured, his steady hands
Bear a duty of care. These marks will scar and harden,
Swallow stitches and leave stretch-pleats.
Even when the scabs have fallen,
I stand with a form all fixed and modified,
A body I stayed with, laboured over,
Though I could have chosen to throw it out.
I stand before the mirror with trans written on my chest.
Lined and changed, my biohacked body
And rescued clothes speak prophecy to a future
As yet unnamed. I carry them both as a promise.
One on the other, endlessly whispering,
Visibly mended and always the proof
That redemption is worth the price.
I rub oil into my scars and ask
My grandmother to teach me how to sew.