A Dream Come True
At first, we came up with the idea to do something that connected the trans people that came before us and the free trans people we imagined existing in the future. It became important to us both to honor the path we were on, one that had been paved with so much of our history. Both of our processes took new shape as we began.
As the writing process began, the project as a whole became harder to do — not because of the subject, but because of the societal differences happening so violently. It was so hard to imagine a world where we’ve won, given all the death we’ve come to know for his year. But Kemi’s guidance led Vita to the idea of exploring our present in relation to how far we’ve come.
So Vita’s piece became less about how we’ve “won,” but more about how we’re winning, and honoring what it took to make it here.
As Kah’s visual piece developed, it became more about the adventure and freedom and creativity that is already a part of being trans.
Our work has the feeling of “outside the box” dreaming that’s manifested itself in our present day, not forsaking the past as forgotten, but honoring it as tribute to the magick we’ve created.
We are the wildest dreams of our Transcestors come to life.
The beating of ancient drum, now transformed to the snap of fingers,
Clap of hand, spit of sickening syllables.
The full weight of bodies, spinning magick into the air,
Appearing weightless on descent, landing fiercely without effort.
Vibrant hair, bald heads, boss braids, lit wigs,
Tits out, clit, click, and dick out-hedonistic liberation.
Authenticity sourced from bloodlines of deities,
Brown skin perpetually creating euphoria,
Trans truth, Afro-tenacity.
Revolt beating in pulse with the heartbeats of Black Trans Elders,
Black Trans Futures learning and evolving the pace,
While we, the present, give and receive the lessons as we learn them.
We are the wildest dreams of our Trancestors come to life.
Warriors who refuse to let silence or submission be our melody.
We prove that shit with our feet, our canes, our wheels, our signs and our voices,
Taking the streets before ignorance finishes its evening commute.
Rattling the earth, cracking the sky in two.
Streets know Black Trans rage,
Stronger than they know the red of our blood,
Though the streets still know it well.
Now the world knows history books with our names actually in them,
Immortalized in Black ink, leaving the red behind.
Like no more being error, more like icon.
More Marsha P. to Andy Warhol,
Jennicet to Obama’s opportunism,
Miss Major to the whole country,
And your most recent Emmy winning Netflix search.
We are the wildest dreams of our Transcestors come to life.
We love ourselves out loud, we love each other.
I’ve shaken the hand of a child,
Clad in melanin, love, truth of identity and expression,
And “Black Trans Lives Matter” patched on their back.
The smiles of who no longer search for love in words kept in shadow,
Now the sunlight that makes shades of earth, stone, sand, and root grow.
Makes our love pop like our skin, like our hearts.
That love, more viral than any campaign against us.
Our agency over our minds and bodies as fluid as the waves inside us,
Sorcery beyond the range of closed minds,
Conjuring outside the realms of hate and death.
We are the wildest dreams of our Trancestors come to life.
Once deemed more target than human,
Now clapping back at presidential proportions.
Every election will know that “president” cannot exist without the T.
Neither can ancesTry, wiTchery, resisTance,
Even culTure itself owes us for the bite in its articulation.
We carry our ratchet with our Black feminist theory and unmatched aesthetic.
Holding our trauma and our dreams as armor.
Serpentine shade hand in hand with steel spirit as we Transform the world.
They have been reminded of the ways we Transcend,
Transporting between the human, and the divine.
Living beyond the lies, into our power, into our magick.
annoinTed.
immorTal.
eTernal.
We are the wildest dreams of our Trancestors come to life.
And our dreams are wilder because of it.
About the Poet:
Originally from Cleveland, OH, Vita E. has been surrounded by the power of art since childhood. From then on, they made a pledge that they would use the art that inspired them to influence thought, change, and freedom to exist without apology. This pledge would lead to her life as a percussionist, educator, poet, vocalist, and activist. Vita’s passion as a Black Trans Femme artist has led to many milestones. She’s recently finished a summer-long role as percussionist, mentor, and vocalist for the Creede Repertory Theatre and drummer for the full-stage debut of the hip-hop musical Once Upon a Rhyme. Their response track to Janelle Monae’s “Hell You Talmbout” was included in Source Magazine’s “10 Songs Soundtracking the #BlackLivesMatter Movement.”
@vitae19892015
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