Literature is a conversation. Authors throughout time distill their thoughts, feelings, and experiences, and bequeath them to future generations. How these inheritances are received depends on a complex interplay of authorial intent and reader interpretation. This Reader-Response approach invites the reader to participate in the creative process by asking them to “fill in the gaps” (Carter 87) and cues left by the author (87). The poem “Bedecked” by Victoria Redel explores the challenges of raising a child who does not conform to their assigned gender. Redel’s words strike vastly different emotional chords depending on the identity of the reader, exemplifying the power of perception.

From the vantage of a mother with a genderqueer child, “Bedecked” explores the dilemma of honoring and protecting one’s child. Redel's speaker is a willing supporter of their child’s expression. She allows him to wear scarlet nail polish and toy jewelry (lines 1-2), pink shirts on the playground (line 13), and “[helps] him find sparkle clip-ons when he says sticker earrings / look too fake.” (lines 5-6). Mom also refuses to push “gender appropriate” expressions:

 “Tell me I should teach him it’s wrong to love the glitter that a boy’s only

a boy who’d love a truck with a remote that revs,

battery slamming into corners or Hot Wheels loop-de-looping off tracks

into the tub.” (lines 7-10)

However, despite her support, mom’s words also carry the weight of doubt.

The speaker is keenly aware of the judgement she receives from other mothers. Redel writes, “I see the other mothers looking at the star choker, / the rhinestone strand he fastens over a sock.” (lines 3-4). Her repetitive use of the phrase “Tell me” hints at the constant scrutiny she endures. There’s also a hint of fear in the speaker’s words, as supporting her son goes against the current of societal norms. What if she is deemed a bad mom? Will she be cut off from the support that mothers provide for each other?

In the end, it’s protecting her son’s innocence and joy that wins out. Redel writes, “Tell me what you need to tell me but keep far away from my son who / still loves a beautiful thing not for what it means— / this way or that—but for the way facets set off prisms and prisms spin up / everywhere” (lines 14-17). Here, Mom draws a hard line between her son and those who would judge him. They can judge her, but she’ll be damned if those judgments reach her son. She expresses awe at the beauty he brings to the world, “from his own jeweled body he’s cast rainbows—made every shining / true color.” (lines 18-19) and celebrates him for having a heart braver than anyone’s (line 20).

Reading “Bedecked” as a gender nonconforming youth, particularly one old enough to understand the nuance of how their identity is perceived by society, Redel’s poem becomes an uncomfortable, yet inspiring affirmation of parental love. In “Family Boundary Ambiguity among Transgender Youth,” Catalpa and McGuire explain how families of genderqueer kids struggle to reconcile the person their child was with who they are becoming (89), and that such ambivalence often causes genderqueer kids often avoid or conceal their identities to maintain family unity (95). Reading “Bedecked” could cause a genderqueer reader to feel burdened by the revelation of how their identity may have impacted their mother.

Lines describing their mother’s support take on new meaning, as the reader is now the one being protected. What must it feel like to realize that you were able to sport scarlet nails and toy store rings (line 1), clip-on earrings (line 5), glitter (line 7), and pink shirts (line 13) because of your mother’s courage? What must it feel like to realize that someone sees you for how you light up their world, not how you move through it? The identity of the brave one depicted in Redel’s last line—“Now try to tell me—man or woman—your heart was ever once that brave.” (line 20)—varies based on who’s reading. For Mom, it’s undoubtedly her son. For him, it’s the woman who never let him be anything less than himself.

These are but two possible readings of Redel’s “Bedecked,” but they show how the reader’s perception is just as valuable as the author’s intent; how words convey meaning and cues that the reader filters through the lens of their experience. In this way, no two readings are ever the same. Texts become living constructs, constantly changing their shape to meet the reader where they are and guiding them to where they need to be.

Works Cited

Catalpa, Jory M., and Jenifer K. McGuire. "Family Boundary Ambiguity among Transgender Youth." Family Relations, vol. 67, no. 1, 2018, pp. 88-103. ProQuest, http://ezproxy.apus.edu/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Ffamily-boundary-ambiguity-among-transgender-youth%2Fdocview%2F2008325582%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D8289, doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12304.

Carter, David. Literary Theory, Oldcastle Books, 2006. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/apus/detail.action?docID=1121186.

Redel, Victoria. “Bedecked.” Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/programs/poetry-and-literature/poet-laureate/poet-laureate-projects/poetry-180/all-poems/item/poetry-180-129/bedecked/. Accessed 23 Dec. 2023.