Introduction

  What does it mean to be abnormal?

  When you stand outside of what society deems as “good” or “normal”, you are put under a special lens of scrutiny and investigation- something that I believe to be a mixture of human nature and a societal issue. You are forced to prove your identity to those around you, tear out your heart and present it to an audience, crying “Look! Look at this piece of me, look at this piece of me and see me.”

  Hello, my name is Ollie, I am a transgender male, and this is a collection of poetry and essays. I am showing you, right here and right now, both my unadulterated emotional core and my rational thought. Tonight, I volunteer to be looked at and poked and prodded, interrogated and investigated. I volunteer to be your abnormality. But I do it because I want to, I need to.

  I want you to understand me. Feel your heart beating in your chest and imagine it as mine. I need to be looked at and, for a moment, be understood.