"I will no longer mispronounce myself," resolves Phin Dauphin in "Baritone Without a Body."
A self-described "gender fluid person," Dauphin says the poem was written while part of a slam poetry team preparing to represent Seattle at Brave New Voices, an international poetry festival. "Baritone Without a Body" aims to document the path taken to understand Dauphin's gender, and reflects a deep regard for language rooted in the experience of growing up in a household where English, Spanish, French and Creole were spoken on a daily basis.
Dauphin is a teaching artist, and has performed with Kwame Dawes, Rafael Casal and Buddy Wakefield, as well as Seattle-area musicians.
Her reading was recorded in the KUOW Studios on May 17, 2013.
The 2013 Trans Pride Parade takes place in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood June 28, 2013.
