About Me: Jymi Cliche
Info On The Author and Artist: Jymi Cliche
My name is Jymi Cliche. I’m about to turn 44 on September 11th, 2022. It’s an indescribable feeling to even be alive right now. I was chronically suicidal from the age of 8 to 30 when I had my first full-blown psychotic breakdown. I’ve been through far too much trauma for one person, and unfortunately, it shows… but coping with it has made me the artist I am today.
I was born intersex, most likely with a micro-penis that was removed the day I was born. Then, I was forced to live as a girl in the world, when I knew I wasn’t, and I was gaslit by my own family and doctors and told I was crazy. I believed I was; and I thought I was a bad person who didn’t deserve to live in the world, so I stopped trying, as early as eight years old, when I began early puberty which confused me beyond words. I wasn’t ready to grow up and I didn’t have anyone to look up to. I was the oldest kid, with two younger sisters and my older cousins lived on the other side of the country. I got myself into a world of trouble that I’ve never fully escaped.
At fifteen years old, I was admitted to McLean Psychiatric Hospital and I spent the next twenty years in and out of psych wards to the point where I’m still institutionalized even though I’ve been “free” for over a decade. My 23rd birthday, on 9/11/01, came at a bad time in my life and it pushed me over the edge. It didn’t help that I knew since I was thirteen that “something bad” was gonna happen on my 23rd birthday. Then, right after 9/11, I found out that I was born intersex and I quickly transitioned to male while legally homeless and not speaking with my family. I was living with my ex in a toxic situation, and when we broke up, I spent a lot of time getting high with people I met on the street and got myself in over my head again. The police got involved, which is never good for a trans person, especially a trans person with a family like mine, but I won’t get into that here.
My unusual life has been difficult, to say the least, but I believe it was all meant to be, and at this point, I honestly feel grateful for my life, and that I’m on the right path. I stopped hanging out with the people I met on the street about five years ago. It was hard for me to let them go because they were there for me when no one else was, but most of them were only there because of the things I did for them. I try to show love to everyone in my life from friends and family to mental health workers and nurses, to delivery people, etc. I am a kind and generous person, yet I’ve been taken advantage of for most of my life because of it, in all kinds of ways that have traumatized me and left me angry. I sometimes feel I’m at war with the system since a lot of my trauma is related to the limitations the system put on me and how they’ve cut off my wings.
My way of fighting back is to do so creatively, with art and writing. I might be crazy, but that’s nothing I haven’t heard before. I believe “the pen is mightier than the sword” and that I’m gonna win this war I’m fighting…with my art and writing. I’m making progress too, especially since I started showing my art at Out Of The Blue Art Gallery where I also perform.
Here is an excerpt from one of my poems…
“I have PTSD but I don’t have a gun and I will never own one. My time has just begun, and peace is how I will have won. Every time the news is spun, each white guy with a gun is mentally ill, but we just prescribe another pill and instill into our brains to fear the insane or anyone but who is actually to blame- like cis white men who obtain all the power in the world. Watch as the truth is unfurled by the bravery of one little girl- who grew up to be a trans man who can never understand your plans, because it’s made from hate and this debate won’t seal our fate. Like truth and love, let it be spoken from above, I fit the glove, and I’m tired of being shoved.”
I turned that into a rap song. I haven’t been rapping as much lately due to my PTSD symptoms that have grown stronger since the start of the pandemic and being stuck inside… although being stuck inside has been good for me too. I’ve been writing books. I started with a psychological thriller/memoir trilogy called The Godchild, but then took down parts 2 and 3 and redid part one. It’s now called “The Godchild 1: My So-Called Delusions,” and that’s the link to buy it on Amazon. That was written in 2013 originally, but not published till 2020, and the new and improved version is from 2022.
I wrote an autobiography that also examines the way in which the system works against people who don’t fit the mold… in my case, as an intersex person. It’s mostly about my life before my transition and all of the traumatic events that kept me from succeeding in the ways most of my peers did. It’s called “I Write the System To Fight the System So I Might Right the System”.
I have two poetry books, “Before the Rhyme” and “After the Rhyme”, and a children’s book I wrote and illustrated about a non-binary child with mental health issues. It’s called “Be The Best You” and is under the name Jymi Lynn.
I also just wrote two fiction books, “Good Catholic Kids” and “In-Patient” which are both stories about the same character Karen A Rogers/Ren Anonymous, a teenager strongly based on me in the 90s. “Good Catholic Kids” is a coming-of-age/coming-out story that takes place on a cross-country road trip from Salem Massachusetts to Denver Colorado to see the pope, and “In-Patient” takes place in an adolescent psych ward and a group home. They aren’t published yet and I’m not sure when they will be. There’s a chance “Good Catholic Kids” could be out by November, but that’s not guaranteed. I am, however, doing my first book reading/signing event soon. I’ll be reading the first chapter of “Good Catholic Kids” and selling and signing my published books, as well as stickers, bookmarks, and prints of some of my art.
I’ve been busy working on my books, and my website, and preparing for a couple of art shows I have coming up in the fall.
Here’s a peek at some of my most recent work.
Thank you for taking a look. Please check out my blog while you’re here, or visit my website…