A Boy Like Me

By Reki

A Boy Like Me is the first anthology from openly gender fluid and LGBT+-identified artist Reki* who is also a recording artist based in Los Angeles, California. The collection of poetry and prose is primarily a firsthand narrative of what it means to be feminine within the community when concerning dating and romance, society at large, and sometimes within family and platonic ties and circles. Other themes include heartbreak, day-to-day testimonies that reveal to the reader how alike many of us are, and his mothers untimely death. A Boy Like Me is a piece of literature geared toward liberation of the femmes within the LGBT+ community that are ceaselessly tempted to silence by outside forces and, many times, by our own.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 20, 2017
• ISBN: 9781546210818

Reki

Reki* is a 27-year-old recording artist currently residing in Los Angeles, CA who began writing at the age of 13. He is openly gender variant, barring feminine most days, and is open about his sexuality and gender expression. He is viewed somewhat as a radical enigma within the community, as he is racially ambiguous (a product of mixed racial heritage), highly opinionated and educated among many controversial topics, and a vocal trailblazer for reclaiming space for feminine boys WITHIN the realm of the LGBT+ movement who are often dismissed and discarded by their peers. Reki* is poised and determined to leave hand and foot prints for voices that are marginalized so that the future generations to come can have a better quality of life than what is known in 2017. -Download the debut mixtape for FREE: http://bit.ly/rekimixtape -Like him on Facespace: https://www.facebook.com/TheyCallMeReki -Listen to Reki*s angelic voice on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/beau-bonito -Stalk him on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_aboylikeme_ -Witness Reki* on theTube of YOU: https://www.youtube.com/JustCallMeReki -Creep on his Twitter: https://twitter.com/_aboylikeme_ -Help Reki* grow on Reverbnation: https://www.reverbnation.com/theycallmereki -For bookings & all other inquiries, please email: [e-mail]

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© 2017 Reki*. All rights reserved.

Photography by Ty Chen

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,

or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/20/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5462-1080-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-1081-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017917504

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Contents

Chapter 1: The Art of Rejection

Fawn, Dawn

Lone Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing

Pieces of Me

Sailing Souls 23722.png

Observation

Let’s Talk About It

This Is For the One

Puro

You Just Don’t Get It

Garden of Eden

What It Feels Like to Be Different

disjointed

Animal Kingdom

Arc of Existence

But I Thank You (Anyway)

Battlefield Earth

Moving On… (Next Level Shit)

One Drop Rule

I Wanna Ride That Wave

Exigency + Disorientation (Because I’m Curious)

Red Wine

Fire We Make

Power Struggle

♥What Dreams May Come♥

[You’ve got me where you want me]

Implosive

[I don’t know what’s gonna happen next]

Why Do I Do This to Myself?

Wounded Lamb

Sea Dragon

Hugo the Wolf (Full Moons)

Art Imitates Love

Imaginary Friend ♥

Abbreviated

Life Support

Eclipses

Embroider

Fear

Titanic

Something You May Not Understand

7/4/15

A Boy Like Me

Pet

Dating Application Denied

I Shouldn’t Be…

Observations

Wanderless

Stricken

1492

Autograph

♥CRUSH♥ (Center of Gravity)

#OverAndOut

Worth

Flash

Prematurity

Full Circle

Forces

—————

No More, No Less

Punctuated Hate

Don’t You Ever…

Tea Party

Where My Mind Is (And Where My Heart Goes)

C.O.T.I.C.A.O.

Motion of the Ocean

Oh Memories

All That Matters

Chapter 2: Maintenance of a Human Being

Autoimmunity

…

Goodnight Moon

3hrs • Los Angeles

Direct Quote

You’d Be Surprised

So to Speak

Cast Away

Open-Ended Statements

Pearls of Wisdom (at 25)

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Potent(ial)

Message In a Bottle

Bird’s Eye View

Bunny Camp

Mismatched

Ball & Chain

Winds for Sail

Oceans pt. 2

Adapt

All at Once

Closer to Myself

On Display (Window Shopping)

Composition

Declare

By the Way

Calendar Planner

Déjà-Vu

In Whom We Trust?

Powerbottom – A Poem

Fill In the Blank (DIY)

10 Years In the Making

Retrospection

Chapter 3: Letters to Uno

Can’t Let Go

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Tick-Tock Eyes

Can We?

Ever Again

More Suiting

Forme (Secret Garden)

Distance

704 Rapid

Ad Infinitum

Missing Link

Day By Day

Treasure Hunting

Say Somethin’

R.S.V.P.

Chapter 4: For My Mother…

Little White House

200 Pennies

I Am Here

Calendar Days

SOS

Chronology

[As the elements of the Earth,]

Displaced Faith

Caller ID

8/7/14

I Don’t Want to Be Alone…

I Love You

I’ll Be Waiting

Matrifocal

Closer to the Truth pt. I

How It Used to Be

Tagged

References

Dedicated to the femme boys of the LGBT+/SAGA community and diaspora…

This is for you. This is now yours, and I hope you find solace, comfort, and empowerment in its content, its photographs, and its honesty. Our femininity is very powerful and often times revered as threatening for reasons you and I are far too evolved to entertain. In a world designed to destroy and outcast boys like us, please never forget that you are not alone; and that now is the time, more than ever, to be exactly who we are out in the open, and to never back down from doing so. Our individuality and mere existence is a blessing to ourselves and the world around us, whether you are ready to accept that or not.

Just know that I understand you. I hear you. I am just like you. You are a boy like me.

With Love,

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Chapter 1: The Art of Rejection

July 6, 2017

Fawn, Dawn

Fawn

Dawn

Over men till I wake from sleep

Juxtapose

Propose

Compromise every part of me

Discretion

Life lessons

I learn but don’t always keep

Chase

Retrace

Things I know will never be

May 22, 2017

Lone Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing

I can’t help it

As if secretly a part of me hopes

That you’ll break up with him so that I can have you in the bedroom again.

Oh the roles in life we play

What kind of man am I though

To admit such a selfish and childish

Unimpressive lusting

That I may perhaps subconsciously pray such dissolution?

It’s a very sad piece of my heart that echoes cries of

misunderstandings and overbearing emotions,

loneliness and unforgiving solitude somewhat subjecting…

It shouldn’t be like this, because other people’s happiness is never a threat to my own.

I just don’t think it’s fair, because you’re so fucking perfect, and I had you first.

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April 22, 2017

Pieces of Me

I’m addicted to the way you say no to me

And all the moments you chose to walk away

I’m attached to all the times I find myself on bended knee

Begging and pleading for you to just stay

All the many different ways I manage to hold on

To things that never were and to things that are long gone

A testament to my sentiment

Though it was clear that everything about it was all wrong

In positions where the odds are against my favor

But it’s somewhat thrilling knowing it all might hurt

I’m hard pressed pursuing something in the dark

With all these men with whom I know it won’t ever work

You don’t have to let me down gently

Au contraire, I enjoy a little bit of pain

Do something you know I’ll always remember

Do something that’ll cause the exact same heartbreak every time I hear your name

At this point in my life, no is a word I invite

It all started with my father, then my brothers

Followed by boys in the classroom growing up

And now I anticipate it from potential lovers

And each one left with a piece of me

In parting, the tears I cry leave me emboldened

To continue seeking dead ends and rejection

Because you can’t break what’s already been broken

March 6, 2017

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At least now I can just let it go

Stow away my feelings and let them wither.

Now that I know where lines are

It’s relatively easy for me to dissect and separate,

Compartmentalize

What is real and tangible,

as opposed to what I could feel in my heart and compose in my mind.

And I’m getting better at it as I mature.

Now that the prospects are dead,

Now that I know it was all in my head,

Now that I know if I never see you again,

I’ve said all that has needed to be said.

I can release myself from these mental shackles,

and the constant questions

Second guessing myself and my conduct

Wondering why I didn’t kiss you that night,

But feeling so much better knowing neither of us tried.

I’ve always been quite the magician all my life,

creating something from nothing

and turning wine into water.

But this?

I can let it go now.

And like that same magic it’ll vanish as it always does.

Truth be told you have no idea how much of a relief that is for me;

Because I always seem to play Russian Roulette alone

—I’m never one for hurting others.

To do so hurts me more than me hurting myself, actually.

And instead of firing the pistol,

I’m simply not shooting this time.

I surmise I can