Eileen Myles

    From Nonbinary Wiki
    Text lines white icon.svg This article is a stub. You can help the Nonbinary wiki by expanding it!
    Note to editors: remember to always support the information you proved with external references!
    Caution icon - Noun Project 9556 white.svg
    Content warning
    This article mentions reclaimed slurs. If you are not comfortable with reading about this kind of topic, we suggest you take a step back.
    Eileen Myles
    Eileen Myles at the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival.jpg
    Eileen Myles at the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival
    Date of birth December 9, 1949
    Place of birth Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
    Nationality American
    Pronouns they/them[1]
    Gender identity
    Occupation poet/writer

    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.[4]

    Myles uses the labels "genderqueer" and "trans"[3] but is not comfortable with the label "nonbinary".[5]

    They have been the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Andy Warhol/Creative Capital Arts Writers grant, four Lambda Book Awards, the Shelley Prize from the Poetry Society of America, and a poetry award from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.[6]

    Quotes[edit | edit source]

    « 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.[7] »


    « 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.[5] »

    Links[edit | edit source]

    References[edit | edit source]

    1. 1.0 1.1 Wichtel, By Diana (30 May 2018). "How Eileen Myles won a battle for personal pronoun plurality". Noted. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
    2. Benjamin, Tova (30 November 2015). "Hold a Feeling: An Interview With Eileen Myles". Rookie. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
    3. 3.0 3.1 @EileenMyles (February 24, 2016). "@DeJesusSaves @rugamarspr plus as a gender queer dyke I am trans" – via Twitter.
    4. Traps, Yevgeniya (March 16, 2018). "Zoe Leonard: Archivist of Feeling". The Paris Review. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved November 4, 2018.
    5. 5.0 5.1 Meinen, Abigail (22 June 2018). "I am Legion: An Interview with Eileen Myles". Sampsonia Way. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2020. You know, I wouldn't say I'm non-binary. Somehow it has a technical air, so somehow I don't feel comfortable with that or claim that.
    6. "Eileen Myles". Poetry Foundation. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 16 May 2020.
    7. Russell, Stephen A. (2 May 2018). "Presidential thoughts: Eileen Myles on gender, sexuality and the bathroom wars". Topics. Archived from the original on 17 July 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2020.