This dreamy poem of trans~formation was written in an attempt to envision a trans materialist utopia. In these verses, we find ourselves at the beginning of this emergence; a post-gender and post-capitalist era in which inherited prejudice and discrimination is fading as collective responsibility is taken and we’re learning to inter~be. Where borders have vanished and boundaries are discovered. A society in which we aim to be connected and free, respectful and loving, in reciprocity. The poem reflects on past and new struggles and leaves us with a taste of current joyous explorations.

The utopian poem was written for a seminar named Trans Materialism – an Introduction (summer semester of 2024 at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin). Inspiration was found in enriching discussions and course materials, such as Kay Gabriel’s Gender As Accumulation Strategy, Bini Adamczak’s Circlusion, and Paul Preciado’s Anal Terror. I reference them in the poem and therefore attempt to uncover some of these in the following passage.

Seminar Treasures

In the first session, Jules Gleeson likened the character Frankenstein’s monster to trans people. To my understanding, the monster is a kind and loving person, who is misunderstood, othered and misused/abused in capitalist society.

Preciado tells a story about Guy. Guy is anal-ising (instead of psychoanalyzing) and invites us to explore each other’s anuses for true emancipation. I invite you to read this holy scripture for a closer understanding.

Circlusion: “It denotes the antonym of penetration.[…] Circlusion means pushing something––a ring or a tube––onto something else––a nipple or a shaft. The ring and the tube are rendered active.”

(Adamczak, https://thenewinquiry.com/six-years-and-counting-of-circlusion/)

 

All set? Here we go…

 

—~—~—•—~——

 

~ • we circluded, came and concurred • ~

… sensing souls ~ releasing life …

 

we offered a different reality …

 

… one in which everyone is seen, heard and felt.

playing, collaborating, sharing.

making life accessible to all who partake.

all~giving, all~receiving, at our own capacity.

redefining freedom. rediscovering pleasure. relearning love.

feeling it grasp our attention as we become alive.

… an attractive alternative: to inter~be

 

so borders turned into boundaries

the world is engaged now

tearing down walls, building bridges.

shaping our membrane

mending our minds

to truly be. breaking free. into you and me.

 

if bounds are crossed, consent ignored, or trust broken,

we speak up, we hold up, we gather and hold.

kindly, gently, firmly caring.

we let justice play from within. encompassed and circluded to push through.

it’s not an easy task: we fail and try, trail and fry, scale and cry.

 

we forgivingly learn to change, and remember…

~ • in a metamorphic metanoia • ~

recognizing ourselves as perpetrators ( too ) …

… before we can heal our wounds as victims

 

in our safer haven

con~sensual pushes of boundaries

turning pain into pleasure,

healing holes.

 

with echoes from our past

“take disadvantage of me ~ please!”

 

long lost capitalism!

long gone. that pseudo-existential, binary-dazed, need-creating, endo-crazed, exploit-dependent, prejudice-based, phobia- and fear-driven hazed, all-eating machinery of mad manipulations, oppressive relations.

 

some~once we turned desire into pleasure

from zonked-out scrollers, ego-driven, nonsense-making useless-junk-eyes

into caring comrades in self-determination. from loners into lovers.

from chasing skewed senses of freedom, and holey property in our bias-fear,

to ecological justice and free truedom.

we stopped playing their game.

didn’t turn the other cheek but opened them up.

ignorance slipping through those butt cracks. like chocolate in hot sun.

recognize ~ i’m part of the hole!

 

still breaking the cycle of chain

shedding and shredding those rusty, rotten roots

involuntarily intertwined

infiltrating our minds

those teachings and preachings

corrupted in our thinking

interlaced with our souls

that unkind kind

still marking our bodies.

 

yet our desire is stronger than their hateful torment

both shrinking each day.

adapting, mutating ~ transition of change

frankenstein’s loving monsters found home.

 

~ • circluding souls • ~

minds. learning ~ growing ~ being.

I open (my cheeks) and let you in …

 

 

————      ————

——————————

——— * ———

——

 

 

by qualiana

20.09.2024 ~ Nanaimo, BC

 

Title image (copyright Alaida Hobbing, edited by Genderblog Redaktion): Here the discussion invites to participate. The photo shows a close view at the “Transcestry” exhibition at the Museum of Transology in London, United Kingdom. It is the national trans archive in the United Kingdom.

 

qualiana (Lana Wahlström) is a student of philosophy and gender studies at Humboldt-Universität. She is currently (2025) researching Nancy Fraser’s Cannibal Capitalism for her bachelor thesis. Her interests lie in social and environmental struggles, collective problem solving, sharing and spreading know-how, and how moral responsibility can lessen ignorance whilst satisfying human needs within global community networks. Lana works as a self-employed web developer with a focus on activist groups, cultural organizations and artists, responsive research projects, and NGOs. She co-organizes a reading group, which currently explores Plurality, with the hope to spread and implement new democratic and inclusive tools and processes.