Today was the
day, I had just decided
Since the first of
January, we had been allowed
I had been collecting
and gathering
Papers, letters,
certificates and identity
Links and Evidence,
Operating and Right.
Off on the train,
Spencer Street was best
Out at Collins Street
and cross the road
Front of the Building
‘ work in progress’
Yes I agreed,
business as usual, said the
sign
Not today I thought,
not usual at all.
In I went and turned to
the left
A red tape snaked in a
large letter S
Many, numerous, people
followed its path
An hour of wait time I
thought in a gasp
Isn’t it funny
when standing in a queue
How your bladder likes
to remind you
You should have gone
before you came
Up and down the long
line she went
Official card around
her neck and forms in hand
Helping and reassuring
the old people in wait
She asked me what I was
there for and could she help
I told her I needed a
form to fill out, to get other forms
So the first could be
shredded and handed back
I had other forms that
had been filled and see looked
My mission that day was
to get a holly grail
The form that said
Male in blue and not pink
I looked in her eyes
and saw perplex and bewilder
She stared at my forms
in disbelief and confusion
Everyone knows
transsexuals are drag queens and such
Men who think they are
women as the TV does tell
If I wanted to be a
woman I’d be the woman from hell
She left me in line and
the queue crept along
A fresh face young man
looked up and yelled “next”
And I moved up to his
window and presented my form
He slowly gazed down at
the papers and read very quiet
Then back up at me, in
a big rush he said
The birth certificate
was included in the $58.50
No need for a change of
name it would be on the back
Or so he thought and
rushed off to check with a supervisor
Back with a smile and
more reassured
He asked if I had my
medical files signed
The ones from the
surgeons were most important
And as he read them
through his shoulders relaxed
From then on I was
‘ mate’ and we flew through the
tape
My life was photocopied
and stacked in a place
I paid my money and
received my receipt
It will be about a
week mate, and this is your
code
That’s what you
tell them if you have a problem and
phone
I left the building not
the first or the last
But if we have enough
numbers it just maybe a start
