Run.
Eat.
Masturbate.

Cry for the liberation.
Weep for mental illness.
Sob for the genocide.

Frustration.
Assyrian and queer.
Italian and trans.

None of these words go together.
Always erased, from history
And from the present.

Comb my hair,
Comb my culture.
What culture?

Neither wants me.
Both have extinguished my emotions.
Both have extinguished my attachment to reality.

Intergenerational trauma means
My ancestors survived genocide
And fascism.

Intergenerational trauma means
This self-hate is not a choice.
But it also means it is not mine.

Intergenerational trauma means
I am being pushed to disregard my identities.
I have to reinvent myself to survive.

By Sargon Yousefian Dezag Tekkie