Descriptions:
“I was the mystery of an anatomy, a question asked but not answered,” says poet Lee Mokobe, a TED Fellow, in this gripping and poetic exploration of identity and transition. It’s a thoughtful reflection on bodies, and the meanings poured into them.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more.
Find closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages at http://www.ted.com/talks/lee_mokobe_a_powerful_poem_about_what_it_feels_like_to_be_transgender
Follow TED news on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tednews
Like TED on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TED
Subscribe to our channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDtalksDirector
Because of your recitation am going to try this poem ……just wanna say ..this is the real pain of them
Disgusting.
this is one of my favortie poems right now. She is litteraly saying what i have been thinking for so long
https://www.gofundme.com/f/bryli039s-journey?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_campaign=p_cf+share-flow-1
Yes yes yes
gay
Great
Moral of scrolling down the comments section:
People suck.
Love this poem
wow. this was just beautiful.
😉
Plz sprt me
Beautiful poem
Calicut university kar ivde neelam mukkuka
?
Any malayaliss
It's not about the beauty. And there's no value how they look alike .Its all about their true lived path.This shows how their lives feels.
True life Facts.Big salute to Lee Mokobe .
I studied his poem to write exam in my school
Nice poem ?
Thank you so much ur poem was powerful
??
*sends to my mom*
Is there anybody who wants to do their assignment about lee mokobe but didn't understand anything?
(I didn't see anybody else type it out in the comments so; )
The first time I uttered a prayer was in a glass-stained cathedral
I was kneeling long after the congregation was on its feet.
dip both hands into holy water
trace the trinity across my chest
my tiny body drooping like a question mark all over the wooden pew
I asked Jesus to fix me
And when he did not answer
I befriended silence in the hopes that my sin would burn and salve my mouth
Would dissolve like sugar on tongue
But shame lingered as an aftertaste and, in an attempt to reintroduce me to sanctity, my mother told me of the miracle I was
Said I could grow up to be anything I want
I decided to
be a boy
It was cute
I had snapback, toothless grin, used skinned knees as street cred
Played hide and seek with what was left of my goal
I was it
The winner to a game the others could not play
I was the mystery of an anatomy
A question asked but not answered
Tight-roping between awkward boy and apologetic girl
And when I turned twelve
The boy phase wasn't cute deemed anymore
It was met with nostalgic aunts who missed seeing my knees in the shadow of skirts
Who reminded me that my kind of attitude would never bring a husband home
That I exist for heterosexual marriage and child-bearing
And I swallowed their insults along with their slurs
Naturally, I did not come out of the closet.
The kids at my school opened it without my permission
Called me by a name I did not recognize
Said "lesbian"
But I was more boy than girl
More Ken than Barbie
It had nothing to do with hating my body
I just loved it enough to let it go
I treat it like a house
and when your house is falling apart, you do not evacuate
you make it comfortable enough to house all your insides
you make it pretty enough to invite guests over
you make the floor boards strong enough to stand on
my mother fears I have named myself after fading things.
As she counts the echoes left behind by Mya Hall, Leelah Alcorn, Blake Brockington.
She fears that I'll die without a whisper.
That I'll turn into 'what a shame' conversations as the bus stop
She claims I have turned myself into a mausoleum
That I am walking casket
News headlines have turned my identity into a spectacle
Bruce Jenner on everyone's lips while the brutality of living in this body becomes an asterisk at the bottom of equality pages
No one ever thinks of us as human
Because we are more ghost than flesh
Because people fear that my gender expression is a trick
That it exists to be perverse
That it ensnares them without their consent
that my body is a feast for their eyes and hands
and once they have fed off my queer
they'll regurgitate all the parts that they did not like.
They'll put me back into the closet
Hang me with all the other skeletons
I will be the best attraction.
Can you see how easy it is to talk people into coffins?
To misspell their names on gravestones
and people still wonder why there are boys rotting
they go away in high school hallways
they are afraid of becoming another hashtag in a second
afraid of classroom discussions becoming like judgement days
and now
oncoming traffic is embracing more transgender children than parents.
I wonder how long it will be before the trans suicide notes start to feel rudundant.
before we realize that our bodies become lessons about sin long before we learn to love them.
Like God didn't save all this breath and mercy
like my blood is not the wine that washed over Jesus' feet
My prayers are now getting stuck in my throat.
Maybe I am finally fixed.
Maybe I just don't care.
Maybe God finally listened to my prayers.
{thank you}
I've had so many mental breakdowns in the past few weeks, i've missed 7 days of school since last monday, and i'm still in a ditch. I want to come out, I know i'm trans, but it's so hard to push through and open up to everyone. Four weeks ago, a group of students leaving my school's GSA (Gender sexuality alliance, i've been out as pan for a while and i go there for that), were harassed by two students outside, as they were waiting to get picked up. They were called slurs, cursed out. They had a water bottle thrown at them. I was among those students, this happened the day I was planning on coming out as trans. I know, that if i really wanted to, I could switch to my cousin's school once I come out, but then I won't have friends. But if I stay at my own school, I have to face the two kids that harassed me after their two month suspension. And there's the family members i didnt think about. Me realizing i was trans was amazing at first, all i could think about was how nice it would be, just to pass as a boy. Now it's the reason i'm failing two classes, and have tons of late work, and feel like i'm just falling further away from feeling like a human again.
I so want to share this on Facebook but I think this might out me more than the ally posts already have…
More ghost than human that really hit
This was amazing. He did great putting the things transgender people feel into words, when we can’t.
In India we have this poem to study that's why I am here
Came here from the feature on Ted Radio Hour. Absolutely beautiful poem from an incredible soul ?
The house analogy was so relatable. <3
"It had nothing to do with hating my body, I just loved it enough to let it go."
Scared of her own Soul. from the first line.
She blocked out who God even was, she was not even praying to God. she was praying to her own EGO, and of course it answered.
I feel sad that people are trapped in their own body and use that body to decorate their own prison.
When you speak surreal if your own being than you fucking no cares if boundary after getting many punch you just wait give hard knock out smile make it literally he just slayed it I love it
Outstanding!!!!
Hearing this as a trans man, he hit everything on the mark. Every word, every delivery hit perfectly. The fear, the ridicule, the hatred of others. And not to mention being even unloved by parents. I'm a ghost and I am proud.
My son is trans. Every Trans Awareness Week, I share this poem with my co-workers to try to make them understand. I love this so much.
This is such a beautiful, stunning poem. I'm so glad to have found it!
Powerful delivery!
Ok
Yeah this weird why is are people being Brain ? wash ?
Mental health
"oncoming traffic is embracing more trangender children than parents" DAMN.
"They will put me back into the closet, and hang me with the rest of the skeletons"
This made me cry.
your words are empty and hollow you will die the same gender you were born with you can't change that!