Pride month is a great time to be delving deeper into poetry, and in particular the kind of poetry that shares aspects of LGBTQIA+ experience. More specifically, voices that are often pushed to the margins of the queer community – the voices of trans and non-binary Black, Indigenous, People of Color – are especially important to seek out during this time. The books listed in this post are written by trans and non-binary BIPOC and whose writing is born directly out of those experiences.
Why Dust Shall Never Settle Upon This Soul by Ryka Aoki
This is the first collection of poetry published by trans and Japanese American poet Ryka Aoki. The poems contained here are certainly working intentionally with her heritage and identity, but she has also been careful to make sure that her works appeal to a broader audience, as well. In an essay for Publisher’s Weekly, Aoki once wrote, “If a trans musician can make the audience cry by playing Chopin, how else, but as a human, can she be regarded? And if a book written by a queer trans Asian American can make you think of your own beaches, your own sunsets, or the dear departed grandmother you loved so much…. then what more powerful statement of our common humanity can there be?” This sentiment certainly shines through in her writing here.
Homie by Danez Smith
A brand new release from 2020, Homie is the critical smash-hit sophomore book from Black and non-binary poet Danez Smith. The poems collected here thematically encircle the search for friendship and intimacy in a racialized and gendered world, where those things always seem so incredibly difficult to achieve for those who experience life at the intersections of various systems of oppression. Specifically inspired by Smith’s loss of a close friend, there is a lot of anger and loss captured in this writing. But, readers will also find the collection to be a call to action of sorts, with its beautiful depiction of the tenderness, warmth, care, and joy that can exist between Black and queer people despite the struggles that come along with living in those identities. This one is a joy to read and perfect inspiration for anyone looking to revolutionize the way they love this Pride.
My Woman Card Is anti-Native & Other Two-Spirit Truths by Xemiyulu Manibusan Tapepechul (Nawat)
This is a beautiful collection of poetry in a variety of forms (haiku, sonnet, and free-verse) from Xemiyulu Manibusan Tapepechul, a Two-Spirit, trans womxn Siwayul artist and activist from Kuskatan (El Salvador). The collection is an opportunity to engage with a drastically underrepresented perspective on Native identity, namely that of Two-Spirit, queer, trans, and otherwise marginalized Native voices. The author’s poetry explores what colonially-derived concepts of queerness, gender, and femininity mean in relationship to their indigeneity and surviving under colonialism, and, in sharing these experiences, offers a great opportunity for readers to engage with those ideas and conceptualize what love, identity, medicine, and gender expression might look like outside the Eurocentric categorical boundaries imposed by colonialism.
~ Post by Hannah P.
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