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Title details for Tranz by Spencer Williams - Available

Tranz

by Spencer Williams
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In her debut collection, TRANZ, Spencer Williams writes equally riotous and vulnerable poems, penning a love letter to trans people and their audacity to exist in a world that constantly endangers them structurally and individually. Her blistering lyrics and acerbic wit never flatten her subjects but rather filet normative hypocrisy to reveal unspoken truths. Williams observes, "i am not dangerous until i'm made in the mouth / of someone who fears me," and remembers receiving apologies whose "guilty resonance burns / like a wet willy from god." She articulates a vast landscape of physical and ideological violence against trans people by illuminating this fundamental paradox: "i can't fear u less until u fear me less—." And yet the radical poetics of TRANZ is a celebratory self-becoming. Because of Williams' subversive genius and lyrical grace, every indictment is also a declaration of triumph, a reminder that the ever-dynamic trans community continues to thrive despite, not through, its opposition to an antagonistic cultural discourse. In every place, in every time, trans people are enduring. Extant. "on the milk carton. on the public access / television. everywhere i go i am there so brutally."

  • Creators

  • Series

    Stahlecker Selections

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 15, 2024

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781961897175

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781961897175
      • File size: 845 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      November 8, 2024

      At its core, Williams's debut collection reflects on the complex journey of being a trans woman in the United State. It also intermixes poems about adoption, birth families, substance use disorder, and childhood trauma. Many works in the collection are in confessional style. For example, in "revising the danish girl," she writes, "I confess: there is not a color to rival how it feels / to be so woman. / no canvas wide enough to capture the landscape it inspires." There is also an overarching theme of pain and grief from hate and transphobia, especially in the digital age, when creating an online dating profile opens users up to transphobic remarks on a constant basis. That's partnered with a prevalence of hateful content on the internet at every turn. Williams captures that sentiment well in the poem "lesson," in which she writes, "Tranz taught me / there is no cruelty which is / impossible / but what i want / for whoever says / i won't have it: a life." VERDICT This collection is a movingly honest exploration of what it means to be trans in the United States.--Sarah Michaelis

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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