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[every trans boi i know looks like his mother]

By Cai Sherley

Added: Thursday, March 19, 2026  /  Used with permission. Cai Sherley performs "[every trans boi i know looks like his mother] on November 20, 2025 as part of Split This Rock's Trans Ruckus Virtual Poetry Reading. The poem originally appeared online in Peach Mag: https://www.peachmgzn.com/cai-rodrigues-sherley
Cai Sherley

Cai Sherley (he/him) is a Black trans poet-educator with roots in Boston, MA. A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, his poems can be found in Best New Poets, swamp pink, and Peach Mag, among others. His work centers Black transmasculine life, past and present, in the United States. He has found homes at The Watering Hole, Brooklyn Poets, Tin House, and LAMBDA, and is a member of the Crossroads Writers Collective and Trans Corner Poets. His debut chapbook, Out of Yearning, is set to be released in October 2026 by Sibling Rivalry Press.

Image Description: A lighter-skinned Black trans masculine person is photographed from the shoulders up, wearing a black lapel shirt with one dangly pearl earring, a gold septum ring, and rectangular glasses. He has a high top fade. The background is a blur of green bushes.

Other poems by this author