Meg Day’s poem “Batter My Heart, Transgender’d God” discusses Day’s complicated relationships with both relationship and gender. One of the first striking things about this poem is the title. One of the common mistakes people make in discussing trans issues (by which I mean, things that affect those who are transgender, as opposed to how some people use it to describe the “issue” of trans people existing) is to use the word “transgendered.” This is nonsensical, as “transgender” is an adjective, not a verb. It’s like describing a person as “gayed” once they come out. Given this, it’s interesting Day made the choice to include it in this way, though using the apostrophe in place of the last E suggests a more informal, improvised usage of the term.
The poem itself takes the form of prayer. Ironically, it asks for fear to be given to the speaker, as they have grown too comfortable with their identity and forgotten the harsh reality of being trans in our society. Day uses the word “kin” to describe trans people in this poem, similarly to how the word is used to describe deaf/hard of hearing people in Elegy in Translation. In both of these instances, Day’s “kin” are being harmed or even killed based on the factors that relate them to the poet. This poem asks for a release from the hubris which makes the speaker confident they will not become another statistic. A similar theme is found in “When They Took Her Breasts, She Dreamed of Icarus,” wherein the speaker compares themself (themselves?) to Icarus as “the son of a craftsman.” This thread between the two poems is part of a larger narrative thread found throughout the collection, in which Day discusses the complex notion of gender and how it relates to hubris.