ALT Baby, Meg Mellor first of two images I was born sprinting. I bled through every mile of this gender. Call me deviant. Call me boy-dyke, fag, she-he, they/it, “transtrender” —Wrong. I’ll bedazzle every name on my leather. I don’t run for anyone— but me. Not for the crowd, not for the finish line— I run for that anger inside, That beast, The hunger that never quits. For the teenage-self that craved locker-room smirks, and girl-forsaken grit. I run because the fire in me won’t go out. I’m full of want, & rage & something feral You couldn’t name if I bent you over, and spelled it across your back in bite marks. Something that only post-nut clarity could bring

ALT second of two images a queer out-of-the-closet. I run because every “sir” or “ma’am” is a muzzle. I learned to bite back in syllables that split lips— mine and theirs. I broke through the stained-glass cage and left the comfort of conformity—heteronormativity. I fought my way out with bloodied hands and beamed at the splinters gripped by my fists like trophies. I run because I am the animal You tried to leash.

ALT The cover of engendered autumn 2025 on a background of dark grey. On the cover is a heavily textured painting by Jude FireSong consisting of layers of colour, first daubed or smeared, and then speckled. Dominant are red, orange, yellow, light blue, and medium blue though purple, green, and pink also make an appearance. Beside and below the cover is the following text: 20 writers, poets, & artists “as I move through the world, people project images of bodies and faces they assign onto me that evoke in themselves desire, lust, joy, disgust, emotions I have no say over. Perceptions against my will. And those images stain my skin and reek. I'm forced every day to carry those stains” Thokozani Mbwana engenderedlitmag.com

ALT Tattoos = Gender ? Alex Cregan In the end, its all needles and process. An ink cartridge or an elixir are interchangeable, someone’s mother is still screaming “irreversible-!” anyway. I still leave changed, a little more tied to this flesh-mass-thing, a little less static and, dare I say, ecstatic? Regardless, those who love us will gush over our new chitin, asking about the growing exoskeleton. It reminds me of being fourteen, doodling wishes into my skin. I dreamed that when they’d seep into my bloodstream they’d become reality, as if it was that easy. In the end, we are all eternally morphing, chameleons shedding skins we’ve long outgrown and still we are shifting. In the end, its all needles and process. The pain is secondary.

ALT The cover of engendered autumn 2025 on a background of dark grey. On the cover is a heavily textured painting by Jude FireSong consisting of layers of colour, first daubed or smeared, and then speckled. Dominant are red, orange, yellow, light blue, and medium blue though purple, green, and pink also make an appearance. Beside and below the cover is the following text: 20 writers, poets, & artists “as I move through the world, people project images of bodies and faces they assign onto me that evoke in themselves desire, lust, joy, disgust, emotions I have no say over. Perceptions against my will. And those images stain my skin and reek. I'm forced every day to carry those stains” Thokozani Mbwana engenderedlitmag.com