H. Melt

A PAIR OF SHOES

i’m sitting on a bench
waiting for the train

a man sits next to me
and compliments my
purple shoes

where did you get those?
i take my headphones off

his tone and
his body
shift

he tells me
i’m gay too
i like girls too

as he invites himself
to stroke my arms
and thighs

i tell him
i’m not gay
i’m trans

the distinction
doesn’t matter
to him

i’m just a body
i’m just a pair
of shoes

dangling
in front
of him.

H. Melt is a poet and artist whose work proudly documents Chicago’s queer and trans communities. Their writing has appeared in Lambda Literary, The Offing, and Them, the first trans literary journal in the United States. They are the author of The Plural, The Blurring.