We are proud to share a thought-provoking review from Sundress Reads of the award-winning poetry collection “Transitory” by Subhaga Crystal Bacon. Bacon’s collection is illuminating and insightful, drawing readers in and giving a voice to the unheard members of the trans community.
Grounded in protest and solidarity, Subhaga Crystal Bacon’s Isabella Gardner Award-winning “Transitory” is a collection of elegies memorializing 46 transgender and gender-nonconforming people murdered in the US and Puerto Rico in 2020.
Epistolary in nature, these commemorative poems are “gleaned sketches” attempting to reconstruct lives and deaths from the typically scarce information made available on the internet. Interspersed with the elegies are personal explorations of gender identities and sexualities from a Queer elder who has lived through the post-Stonewall years of sexual liberation, the second wave of feminism, and the recent rapid increases in awareness about gender and sexualities met almost equally with anti-trans and anti-Queer violence.
Seen through the lenses of whiteness and privilege from the last quarter of a lifetime, these poems navigate the desire to be at home in our bodies, to be loved and desired without danger, and most of all to live free, healthy, and welcome in the world we inhabit.
Sundress Reads takes note of the collection’s bravery, refusing to ignore painful and enduring struggles. By looking in particular at poems such as “Cautiously Watching for Violence” and “Alexa: Neulisa Luciano Ruiz, 28, Tao Baja, Puerto Rico, February 24”, Sundress Reads emphasizes the everyday hostilities toward trans people shared and expressed in “Transitory”. This eye-opening read is described as “valuable and necessary.”
We encourage our readers to share in the stunning exposure of this collection and continue to spread the word. Stay connected with The BOA Buzz for more reviews and highlights of BOA Editions and their exceptional authors. “Transitory” is available now in trade paperback for $17 (ISBN 978-1-950774-96-8). Be sure to order a copy and engage with the wonderful call to action that is “Transitory”.
About Bacon:
Subhaga Crystal Bacon’s first poetry collection, Elegy with a Glass of Whiskey (BOA, 2003), was awarded the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Stephen Dunn. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications in the United States and Canada, and she has presented essays on Elizabeth Bishop in Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, and Ouro Preto, Brazil. In addition, she has advised a college literary magazine, developed creative writing curricula, and judged academic and small press contests. Her third collection, Transitory, is forthcoming from BOA Editions in 2023.
