TRANZ

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, "e;i am not dangerous until i'm made in the mouth / of someone who fears me,"e; and remembers receiving apologies whose "e;guilty resonance burns / like a wet willy from god."e; She articulates a vast landscape of physical and ideological violence against trans people by illuminating this fundamental paradox: "e;i can't fear u less until u fear me less-."e; 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. "e;on the milk carton. on the public access / television. everywhere i go i am there so brutally."e;