This page contains a short introduction about my poems and prose. Some of my poetry I make available here for you to
view and print for free within the following restrictions.
Without permission, you are not
allowed to mass-distribute, sell, or in any way profit from these documents, and you are not allowed to change or copy anything
for use in another media.
To view and print these documents you need an Adobe Acrobat reader program installed
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About Li Sam’s Poetry (01jul2009)
My poetry may look old fashioned to some people, as I need to rhyme or in other ways create a flow that I
like. Poetry is very much like music to me, and I need to feel a melody in the text and its phrasing.
My poetry
has given me a life, literally; without it I doubt I would be alive today. I used my poetry to come out to my wife about my
situation and to explain that I needed to change gender to survive. And it’s also true that my poems helped my wife
understand and made her able to support me. You can find these thirteen poems in my book Behind Waves; two of them
are here below, as well. I have also made these poems available separately as Poem Cards that explain a bit more about them.
I would like to believe that this kind of poetry speaks not only to my wife and me. I would like to believe that poetry has
the power to speak to us all.
Sometimes what we say doesn’t convey our message, and what we write is not enough.
And sometimes not even illustrations can speak for us. When there are no words to tell, poetry can speak for us, and when
there’s a distance, poetry can bring us close. Poetry can be the light in the tunnel; poetry can guide us as partner
and spouse.
Conveying emotions we do
by touch, feeling the soul.
Emotions are the force that drives us, making us whole.
A poem we read is not there
to tell us, it’s there for us to feel.
And with the touch of a poem, emotional bonds we seal.
Poetry ties
loving bonds between us; poetry makes us learn to see
Those bonds of love are no prison; those bonds of love set us free.
Children of the Universe
Written by
Li Sam, June 2005.
This text has a very special meaning to me. If it’s prose as described by a
dictionary, I can’t tell—the dictionary says, “Prose is distinguished from poetry by its lack of marked
metrical structure”—but in this case I don’t see the distinction like that. This is a story, but what the
story tells is poetry to me. Metrical structure or the lack of it is not really the issue here.
I wrote this piece
while listening to music, the Moonlight Sonata, by Ludwig van Beethoven. To me that music is about emotions and harmony, and
even though some perceive it as burial music, in this story that very same music is about life.
Me (A poem extracted from Behind Waves)
Written
by Li Sam, August 2003.
This poem is probably the most important document that I have ever written.
It has changed my life in many ways and it still affects me. Without it I guess my life would have been much different; in
fact I’m not sure I would have survived at all.
This poem can also be found in the story Behind Waves,
where it plays a vital role, and also on a Poem Card, the first in a series of thirteen. These cards reveal my thoughts in
a personal and very special way. Somehow these thirteen poems have helped me to survive and deal with my transsexual situation
when it was at its worst. I hope these poem cards will support people like me to come out, conveying a message and helping
people understand.
A card like this carries a message by itself, but there is space for you to add a note
or a personal letter telling about your situation. This card shows that you are not alone.
Colors (A poem extracted from Behind Waves)
Written by Li Sam, November 2003.
This poem has a more general touch. I guess each of
you will have an opinion about it because it’s about morals—a dangerous subject for someone like me, you may think,
but not really.
The poem is written with a positive spirit, about discovering the world and realizing that there
are many vital values in life where morals easily could guide us in the wrong direction.
It’s a short poem,
but it has a lot to say and there are many ways to understand it. It’s a tribute to all those new acquaintances, the
colorful people I have met during my life, and you should know that no one is excluded because of their “morality”—it’s
how people are as their true selves and what they do that matters.
This poem can also be found in the story Behind
Waves, as can the previous poem “Me.”
