Eileen Myles

Eileen Myles is a well-known lesbian poet and writer. Myles ran for president of the USA in 1991-92. Zoe Leonard's 1992 poem, "I want a president", which begins with the line: "I want a dyke for president", was written to celebrate Myles's presidential run.

Myles uses the labels "genderqueer" and "trans" but is not comfortable with the label "nonbinary".

Quotes
"I mean, I feel like I am very trans-identified. To some extent I felt I did, in fact, identify as a man in a woman’s body. I’m starting to think that trans feelings are really at the root of homosexuality."

"I started to think about "they", how it contains multitudes, and my sense of myself. I feel like a gender knot or something. I feel male, and I feel female. I feel queer. I feel trans. I feel I'm a dyke, I'm a lesbian. I feel like a fag sometimes. It’s very mobile, and they really seems to hold that. And I also really love that I’m in my sixties, and of course certain people transition at all points in their life, but I don’t know anybody my age who’s changed their pronouns. I feel really happy that I can claim that, that I can do that. It feels like a mark I’m delighted to hold, and say Fuck you, if you don’t like it."

Links

 * https://eileenmyles.com