Ian Badcoe
do you have the ticket?
do you have the ticket // do you have the passport to show // you
are what you say you are // and by say I mean dream // and
by dream I mean know // do you have the ticket?
do you have the ticket // do you have the paper // signed by a
doctor // to say you're living your best life // as if you were what
you wanted to be // what you are // are you living in fear // of
being noticed // of not being noticed // of only pretending to have
a ticket?
have you been living as a Teletubby // do you have the form that
shows // you sleep each night in the Superdome // have spoken to
Noo-Noo today // pretended the TV painted on your t-shirt really
worked // as if pretence meant anything // are you making
progress // are you happy yet?
do you have the ticket // are you allowed in here // you look like
an edge case do you have paper // to say you are as you are // as
you have always been // are you seen as what that is // if not why
not // it surely isn't difficult // to act out what you are // only
harder // so people can tell // even stupid people // who cares if
travesty-charade-lampoon-burlesque-mockery is nothing you
would dream?
do you have the photographs // of being yourself in drag // repeated every day for years // do you have evidence of mocking
yourself // sufficiently // consciously but secretly // because
you’re not allowed // to say their world picture is fucked // do
you have the photograph // of being the thing you’re not to show
you really want the thing you want to be // would it be easier if
we just tortured you?
do you have the ticket // there aren’t any for that // not for you //
do you have a form permitting // filling other forms in wrong //
not as a lie // but there is no language for the truth // ha! // do
you have any tickets // any valid documents at all?
is there anything else to say // do you say you’re not what you are
// are you not what you are // have you tried getting a ticket?
Hey Changeling
Do you have the ticket & We are all are always never going home
Read by Ian Badcoe
Ian Badcoe (he/they) is a nonbinary poet living in Sheffield, Yorkshire, UK. He is a strange hybrid of poet, game-dev, gardener, husband, father and geek. He likes to write "genre" poetry–especially SciFi and Noire–as well as science and technology themed work. He has a long-term song writing collaboration with German indie composer/performer Hallam London and they are slowly releasing an album. He has been published in various places, including: Antiphon, Riggwelter and recently in Streetcake Magazine.