Circulatory System Caden Yanz

Circulatory System

Your heart is a rhythm that you can't get rid of, always with you, keeping up no matter how fast you go, reminding you in its quiet, comforting way that we are all people: connected through that silent beat.

And I do not understand those who do not understand that I still have a heart, the same as them. I still have a heart pumping life through my veins and arteries.

I do not understand those who do not understand that though I was assigned something else at birth, my gender identity is who I am. And though they try to dehumanize me— disrespectful, disregarding my personal history and that of those like me—

I don't understand it. Because we are not separated by a septum; the only thing dividing us is the hate for something different, something not what they are used to, something they'd call “out of hand.”

And I do not understand those who do not accept me for who I am. Their hate is like coronary artery disease,

blocking up creativity and personality, as the sickness closes arteries.

I do not understand those who refuse the fact I’m trans only because they can’t understand me. They can’t understand my identity. They can’t understand that we all have the same heartbeat.

They hate me because of who I am. It's as if my identity doesn't matter to them, only because it's different. Because I am different.

And so they try to separate me from their lives, from their society. But they don't realize how difficult that will be, because

we are an army of kaleidoscopic diversity, marching through hostility, like red and white blood cells through the vessels connecting all of us, disrupting the infection that is hate,

reminding those who have forgotten to listen to their heartbeat. Because it knows that we, despite our diversity, deserve to be loved.

Because the heart is a rhythm That you can't get rid of.

Caden Yanz, Grade 7 Sanford Middle School, Minneapolis Teaching Artist: Frank Sentwali