Harry had quite the adventures, seven years he fought
For his life, the lives of his friends and others
He loved dearly, a noble path he chose
And yet, for all the seemingly positive lessons taught
About courage and loyalty, those tales were short
Of featuring any different sisters and brothers
There's a few here and there, most of us know Cho
The only minority with any significant role
And the Asian sisters that when to the ball
With Ron and Harry, but that's as far as it goes
The rest is the same world all of us know
Most wizards are white, all wizards are straight
All wizards as cis, now more certainly so, right?
The books are for kids! I guess that's why
You only see kids on the studio rides
Why bother portraying any different lives?
I loved them growing up, I reserved the sale
Of each new book, I was the first in line
Not so much the movies, a couple were fine
I was a fan before all of you, even now I can't fail
To recite, after decades, dozens of lines
And they are very much now a product of their time
Written in the '90s and several years on
Before same-sex marriage, the Equality Act and Lady Gaga songs
Was that her job, to write better than the wrongs
Of her era? No, she wrote stories of mystery crimes
With a magical inflection, to a set formula broken
Only by Hallows, by then too late to try
And build up a world she'd ordained to die
Within seven entries, and just Harry awoken
At the end, all threads left nicely tied
Ironic, for a hero so self-satisfaction concerned
That Danny in real life has a true Ally emerged
Standing up for us when hurt by her misguided words
A better legacy for those throwaway yarns
Harry gave a genuinely heroic voice to be heard
Maybe if Harry walked up to Erised now and gazed
All his demons and traumas soothingly erased
Would he look back surrounded by those different lives
That were missing in his youth, mysterious days
Unpeopled by the real people who strive
And want to see themselves in stories fighting to survive
And winning, and overcoming monstrous foes
That mirror what they face in street, classroom and home?
Maybe, if those stories were written and filmed now
In an era of empowerment, and intense rows
Over which Muggles' existence Ms. Rowling will allow
Things would be different, undoubtedly for the good.
Ms. Rowling, your own hurt is as valid as ours
No one denies that, but with all your influence and power
How dare you refuse to grow and change where you stood
When your own tortured and traumatised hero could
Your own need for space and agency and voice
Is a need millions of others share, and rightly claimed
But I, and other transwomen, are not removing your choice
To heal yourself, and live free in a world of ignorant pain
That, unfortunately, you have added to with your magical fame
Danny and Harry would stand by me, and reach out
Their hands, with mine, to a fellow survivor to make
A start on those conversations, it's never too late
To learn, to grow, to change, every effort counts
You're a stronger person for knowing what another person's life is about.
@nepion_boreas17
