thrifting as cruising

wryly mccutchen

Wryly stands in front of a white tiled wall. They are cropped at the knees, and they stand leaning to the right with their arms behind their back and head tilted to the left. They have their brown hair in 2 braids with green hair ties, rectangle frame black glasses, a mustache, and dark lipstick. They wear a tight dress with a crew neckline and short sleeves. It is green on top, black and white stripes in the middle, and black on the bottom. They wear a name badge on a lanyard that says Wryly.

Wryly stands in front of a white tiled wall. They are cropped at the knees, and they stand leaning to the right with their arms behind their back and head tilted to the left. They have their brown hair in 2 braids with green hair ties, rectangle frame black glasses, a mustache, and dark lipstick. They wear a tight dress with a crew neckline and short sleeves. It is green on top, black and white stripes in the middle, and black on the bottom. They wear a name badge on a lanyard that says Wryly.

Wryly stands looking down at the camera in front of 2 doors with hooks with black clothing hanging on the hooks. They are posed with their hands on their hips, making a grimace at the camera. They are wearing a bright pink gown with a crumb catcher necklace, ruched bodice, and full skirt, with a bow on the left side at the hip. They are wearing a silver cross ring, 2 silver chain necklaces, a black cord necklace with square pendant, and round black glasses with a dark lipstick. They have short brown hair and a small beard.

Wryly stands looking down at the camera in front of 2 doors with hooks with black clothing hanging on the hooks. They are posed with their hands on their hips, making a grimace at the camera. They are wearing a bright pink gown with a crumb catcher necklace, ruched bodice, and full skirt, with a bow on the left side at the hip. They are wearing a silver cross ring, 2 silver chain necklaces, a black cord necklace with square pendant, and round black glasses with a dark lipstick. They have short brown hair and a small beard.

i thrift most of my clothes. i love the thrill of the hunt. the chance nature of it. it’s a bit like cruising, no? you sense an intense energy. & when you look, you’re dazzled from across the room/aisle. from this distance, you can’t make out the finer details of your mysterious provocateur. you approach, maybe run a finger over seams. search the collar for indicators of what this being/object might be comprised of. you try on/out a few things. & if all the stars & signs align, you make it home together. & just maybe that someone/something even wears you (out) just as much as you wear them (out).

i'm a poet & performing artist. i consider my expression through clothes akin to my poetry practice. or at least it’s a related art form i’d say. i often bring in small elements that remind me to be open to the stranger sparks & wobbles of this universe. add something to the middle. & then remove it bc it’s far too darling. cherish the awareness of its absence. this approach, when applied to clothes, also enables me to find other creative weirdos. a kind of artfag flagging, if you will. we see each other by design.

in the early days of my outward gender variance, thrift stores were one of the few sites i was truly able to stretch my gender explorations safely. i was comfortable there because that's where my mom took a much younger me to get "new clothes" second hand. i even enjoy the way i can sometimes smell but never know the history. can only ever imagine what the first hands must have done to them.

i tend to take a very "shop local" approach to buying accessories or non-thrifted items. i buy jewelry from other trans & queer artists most of them from the PNW (where i live). i only really wanna pay full price to my LGBTQAI+ fam & to BIPoC creators. same goes for body mods (tats & piercings).

one of my favorite poems of all time is Delight in Disorder by Robert Herrick, which might just be the first poem ever written about Spretzzatura/studied nonchalance: 

[…]

More bewitch me than when art

Is too precise in every part

Wryly stands in a white room with a door with a mirror, a blue unicorn tapestry, a black chair, and a small folding table. They are standing with both arms up and hands touching their black hat and their right leg popped out. They wear a red white and blue striped cropped t shirt with a fishnet midcalf length skirt and black mid calf platform lace up boots. They are wearing blue and yellow eye makeup and blue lipstick, a choker necklace, and a black seatbelt belt.

Wryly stands in a white room with a door with a mirror, a blue unicorn tapestry, a black chair, and a small folding table. They are standing with both arms up and hands touching their black hat and their right leg popped out. They wear a red white and blue striped cropped t shirt with a fishnet midcalf length skirt and black mid calf platform lace up boots. They are wearing blue and yellow eye makeup and blue lipstick, a choker necklace, and a black seatbelt belt.

this poem carries a sense of casual & even transcendent disruption. a loving acknowledgement of convention in cahoots with a subversion of it. & while i do love rules, what i most love, what i think to be most queer, is to strategically stray from accepted/enforced forms. when i do it i feel I’m breaking from respectability in nourishing ways. in ways that feed my well-ancestors & rebuff the troubling ghosts.

some of my more recent breaks from form:

  1. in my latest foray into lipograms i decided to include one use each of the three letters (ROY) i was otherwise excluding from the rest of the text. 

  2. in dress, it can look like an ostensibly all-black outfit punctuated by oxblood shoes & a pair of socks that say “DADDY” in all caps, bright white lettering. 

maybe none of this makes sense. but to me it does. when you’re queer & trans in this world, it is a form of resistance to be at ease & in disdain (of the status quo). i aim for an aggressively flamboyant ease. i Delight in Disorder. in dress & in poetry, i simultaneously soothe myself & defy those who(’d) diminish the vibrancy of the ancient trans family i am so lucky to be within.

vol. 01
summer 2021

A headshot of Wryly looking off camera to the left, cropped from the shoulders up. They stand in front of a nature background with grass, shrubs, and trees.They have short brown curly hair, some facial hair, and mauve lipstick. They wear round glasses, a sheer turtleneck, white shirt, black and silver scarf and grey sweater. They wear an earring that is a silver pentagon with a crystal hanging in the middle.

A headshot of Wryly looking off camera to the left, cropped from the shoulders up. They stand in front of a nature background with grass, shrubs, and trees.

They have short brown curly hair, some facial hair, and mauve lipstick. They wear round glasses, a sheer turtleneck, white shirt, black and silver scarf and grey sweater. They wear an earring that is a silver pentagon with a crystal hanging in the middle.

about the artist

Wryly T. McCutchen is a hybrid writer, interdisciplinary performer, teaching artist, & 2018 LAMBDA Fellow. Their poetry has appeared in Foglifter, Papeachu Review, & Nat. Brut. Wryly holds a dual genre MFA in creative nonfiction & poetry from Antioch University Los Angeles & teaches writing at Hugo House. Their debut collection, My Ugly and Other Love Snarls, was published in 2017 by University of Hell press. Wryly resides on unceded lands, stewarded by the Cowlitz & Clackamas peoples, where they cast spells in text & flesh & sweat.