Amy Jo Philip

of the wounds

Those subtle ways transition
nudges the body, inexpert
in its own newness: how when I
make the sign of the cross
over my own chest, my hand lifts higher
than did his, as though
to hoist just over the horizon
Christ, shattered by comfort and ire,
that thrawn spear on the enter key
thrust daily, hourly into his side.

the changes

The slow jazz of this body

moving through the changes
half-pacing
with charmingly awkward,
slightly angular grace

the line it takes, how it fills

the space, how it takes
its fill — glutton for joy — until
the brushes lift from the skin
and, in the air, under the lights,

the last note is hanging

Amy Jo Philip is the first out transgender priest in the Scottish Episcopal Church. Before transitioning, she published two full collections with Salt Publishing — The North End of the Possible and The Ambulance Box — as well as two pamphlets with HappenStance Press. Her work has appeared in various magazines and anthologies, including the 2nd edition of Scottish Religious Poetry: From the Sixth Century to the Present (Saint Andrews Press). She is currently working on a third collection. https://linktr.ee/amyjophilp

Amy Jo wrote the following about her poems:

Gender transition is full of surprises.  One day at morning prayer, I suddenly noticed that my growing breasts were shifting how I crossed myself. In writing ‘Of the Wounds’, that became linked with the abuse that trans people face for daring to be ourselves. But it also feels necessary and urgent to celebrate the surprising depth of joy in transition. During the early days, it can feel like you're constantly improvising your new way of being in the world, so jazz — a genre of music I love — seemed the perfect metaphor to encapsulate that.