On March 31st we celebrate Transgender Day of Visibility, an observance that honors trans people and their accomplishments while bringing attention to the discrimination and societal inequalities that they face on a daily basis. There is no one way to experience and express transness, and the day is an opportunity to recognize gendered experiences in every form, especially as they relate to the other identities that trans people hold.
Poetry collections by trans creators give unique, expressive insight into both their personal and shared histories. The poetry collections below are created by trans authors who not only explore the physical and emotional elements of their gender, but also the ways in which those experiences map onto a world that is designed for gender conformity and polices adherence to racial, economic, religious and other social standards. While each of these works feature distinct poetic styles and explore highly personal topics tailored to each author’s lived experience, they all share in an effort to imagine a better future changed by and for trans people.
Framed as a journey through an imaginary “freedom house,” Brookins charts their transition through each “room” while discussing their experience being raised in Texas as a queer, Black and trans person. Ending with a manifesto that expresses Brookins’ hope for a future that is equitable and affordable for all, Freedom House is a push for people to tap into their curiosity about and capability for making change.
Even This Page Is White is Vivek Shraya’s first poetry collection. It discusses the ways in which she is racialized as a trans woman of color in Canada, where whiteness is prioritized and racism permeates through all parts of life. In asking the reader to recognize the ubiquity of racism and colorism, she incites introspection and makes conversations about race, gender and discrimination in our current social landscape more accessible.
Christopher Soto, a nonbinary poet and activist from Los Angeles, focuses on social policing in both a literal and figurative sense in Diaries of a Terrorist. For Soto, incarceration happens not only in prisons and jails, but in systemic (re)enforcement of gendered expectations through violence and repression by police. Highlighting the Latinx grassroots activists who, like Soto, work to raise awareness about the violence that they face, Soto’s poetry also calls attention to the value of combining art with community organizing.
In addition to authoring Diaries of a Terrorist, Christopher Soto is the editor of Nepantla. Nepantla (a Nahuatl word for “middle” or “in between") features more than 100 poems from trans and queer poets across a span of 100 years and was the first anthology for queer poets of color in the United States. Soto cultivates a connected history between the featured poets by foregoing alphabetical organization of the poems and archiving them according to their thematic connections. While the poems in this anthology explore intertwined concepts and experiences, this text offers readers access to a highly diverse range of poetic styles and messages.
Dispatch explores transness and physicality through the lens of the physical body as it has been subject to American racialized violence throughout history. Awkward-Rich's poems ask readers to think about what it means to be highly visible to others when one’s body is constantly scrutinized and judged, and to reflect on what changes they might want to see in media representations of themselves and their communities.
Which trans-authored poetry collections have you enjoyed?
Add a comment to: Poetry by Trans Authors