JOËLLE RUBY "Unidentified Transvestite Male"

Shot execution style.
Multiple stab wounds.
Strangled.
Gang raped.
Sodomized.
Beaten. Slapped. Kicked.
Left to die.
Buried in a shallow grave.

We know some of your names:
Brandon, Amanda, Gwen, Stephanie, Ukea, Rita, Debra, Fredericka.

But others remain:
Nameless
Faceless
Voiceless.

Unidentified transvestite male.
Man found dead wearing wig.

I think of you, my unknown sister,
lying motionless
blood rivulets flowing from slashed-open skin
decaying in a puddle of crimson.
the twilight sidewalk
ghstening with fresh rain droplets
the luminance of the moon
casting eerie shadows
on your battered anonymous
Body

Your wig,
so a part of your identity,
tipped off your head,
lying sodden in a
cigarette-butt laden puddle,
mixing with traces of your
blood.
How do I resurrect you?’

JOËLLE RUBY

“Unidentified Transvestite
Male” contained in the
book Gender Quake:
Poems.