Review by Ellen K.
Poetry conveys meaning differently than other forms of writing. I’ve read articles and social media posts on transgender topics. Reading There Are Trans People Here was a different experience. The poems in There Are Trans People Here are windows into another person’s reality, glimpses of what they see, and how they experience what they see.
The poems are written in free verse, as much contemporary poetry is. The topics are varied, even while all relate to the trans theme indicated by the title. There are poems that offer a view of a point in life, poems that address social issues, poems that express a dream of a different, more trans-friendly world, and more.
This poetry collection, I think, would be a welcome read for transgender persons. But it can also be appreciated by non-transgender (cisgender) persons. Reading as a cisgender person, I connected with the humanness of the poems while also seeing another perspective on the world. For me, reading these poems connected the humanness of trans persons with the trans-ness of trans persons.
This book is not an introduction to transgender concepts and is best read by people, whether transgender or cisgender, who are already familiar with transgender ideas. These poems, for me, add depth and humanness to the picture of what it is to be trans.
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