I recently did a reading at an elementary school in Ottawa, and one of the children asked me if I was a girl. I said yes. Another child commented that I had a deep voice. I responded: "Can girls have deep voices?" There was a pause and then the group responded, "Yes!"

When I wouldn't leave home without my blue contacts or when I was bleaching my hair, I didn't have the language to articulate that I was trying to assimilate to whiteness. If anything, I was trying to "look normal."

When I do book readings, I always incorporate music or singing.

I feel like I have had to catch up to the art I've made, and learn from the protagonists I have written, especially in relation to gender.

Art can sometimes be separate from the artist.

In poetry, I didn't have to provide resolution. I could ask hard questions without feeling responsible for the answers.

As much as I believe in the capacity for art to create change, and as much as being an artist is physically and emotionally challenging, there is ultimately something a bit comfortable about making art in the comfort of your own home.