Join us on Tuesday, August 13 at 7pm PT when Joshua Jennifer Espinoza celebrates the release of her collection, I Don't Want to Be Understood, with D.A. Powell at 9th Ave!
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or Watch Online/ Livestream link available soon
Praise for I Don't Want to Be Understood
"There are few writers as attuned to the potential of metaphor as Jennifer Espinoza, whose poems make this gesture something more like alchemy. From the first poem, where a trans woman stopped by the TSA blooms into a cloud of energy, Espinoza's poems enact a radical, surrealist, transmutation; her strange, dream-like recollections are spaces of un- and re-making, herself and the world. I Don't Want To Be Understood is simply a triumph--virtuosic, heartbreaking, and searing in its social critiques."--torrin a. greathouse
"I Don't Want to Be Understood is a blistering and a balm. Its speaker holds inside herself the garden, lush, the attending rot, seed and bloom, and the desire to be tended and tenderly so. Alongside the garden, Espinoza charts the cosmology of a woman come into herself in a world of violence, a world that would undo the wonder of this speaker. I leave this book deeply moved by Espinoza's insistence on nurturing a green hope, a green heart."--Donika Kelly
"The potent and focused fourth collection from Espinoza (There Should Be Flowers) captures the danger, mental strain, and transcendence of a trans woman's experience. ... At times devastating, at times chilling, this volume expresses an exhilarating defiance."--Publishers Weekly
About I Don't Want to Be Understood
A transsexual woman pieces together fragmented details of a repressive religious childhood and an unsupportive family, drawing from autobiographical experiences of the poet's life.
I Don't Want To Be Understood is a work of resistance against the conventional trans narrative, and a resistance against the idea that trans people should have to make themselves clear and understandable to others in other to deserve human rights. This is a compelling, urgent collection about the body and survival that asks how we learn to love in a culture where normal is defined by exclusion and discrimination.
These poems stretch from childhood to the present day--resisting typical narratives of self-discovery, resilience, and personal growth--and instead asks what it means to be granted or denied personhood by the world around you. It is a personal archive of a trans life laid out in all its messiness and unknowability, and is a book for anyone who has questioned why we place so many limitations on who gets to be considered a human being. These poems do not celebrate survival, but rather ask why transsexuals and other gender non-conforming people must fight so hard to survive in the first place.
About Joshua Jennifer Espinoza
Joshua Jennifer Espinoza is a trans woman poet. Her work has been featured in Poetry Maga- zine, The Paris Review, the American Poetry Review, The Rumpus, Poem-a-day, and elsewhere. She is the author of I'm Alive / It Hurts / I Love It (Big Lucks 2019) and There Should Be Flowers (The Accomplices 2016). She holds an MFA in poetry from UC Riverside and is currently a professor of creative writing. Jennifer lives in California with her wife, poet/essayist Eileen Elizabeth, and their cat and dog.
About D.A. Powell
D. A. Powell's books include Repast, Useless Landscape or A Guide for Boys, and Chronic. Powell received the 2019 John Updike Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He teaches at the University of San Francisco.
show less
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or Watch Online/ Livestream link available soon
Praise for I Don't Want to Be Understood
"There are few writers as attuned to the potential of metaphor as Jennifer Espinoza, whose poems make this gesture something more like alchemy. From the first poem, where a trans woman stopped by the TSA blooms into a cloud of energy, Espinoza's poems enact a radical, surrealist, transmutation; her strange, dream-like recollections are spaces of un- and re-making, herself and the world. I Don't Want To Be Understood is simply a triumph--virtuosic, heartbreaking, and searing in its social critiques."--torrin a. greathouse
"I Don't Want to Be Understood is a blistering and a balm. Its speaker holds inside herself the garden, lush, the attending rot, seed and bloom, and the desire to be tended and tenderly so. Alongside the garden, Espinoza charts the cosmology of a woman come into herself in a world of violence, a world that would undo the wonder of this speaker. I leave this book deeply moved by Espinoza's insistence on nurturing a green hope, a green heart."--Donika Kelly
"The potent and focused fourth collection from Espinoza (There Should Be Flowers) captures the danger, mental strain, and transcendence of a trans woman's experience. ... At times devastating, at times chilling, this volume expresses an exhilarating defiance."--Publishers Weekly
About I Don't Want to Be Understood
A transsexual woman pieces together fragmented details of a repressive religious childhood and an unsupportive family, drawing from autobiographical experiences of the poet's life.
I Don't Want To Be Understood is a work of resistance against the conventional trans narrative, and a resistance against the idea that trans people should have to make themselves clear and understandable to others in other to deserve human rights. This is a compelling, urgent collection about the body and survival that asks how we learn to love in a culture where normal is defined by exclusion and discrimination.
These poems stretch from childhood to the present day--resisting typical narratives of self-discovery, resilience, and personal growth--and instead asks what it means to be granted or denied personhood by the world around you. It is a personal archive of a trans life laid out in all its messiness and unknowability, and is a book for anyone who has questioned why we place so many limitations on who gets to be considered a human being. These poems do not celebrate survival, but rather ask why transsexuals and other gender non-conforming people must fight so hard to survive in the first place.
About Joshua Jennifer Espinoza
Joshua Jennifer Espinoza is a trans woman poet. Her work has been featured in Poetry Maga- zine, The Paris Review, the American Poetry Review, The Rumpus, Poem-a-day, and elsewhere. She is the author of I'm Alive / It Hurts / I Love It (Big Lucks 2019) and There Should Be Flowers (The Accomplices 2016). She holds an MFA in poetry from UC Riverside and is currently a professor of creative writing. Jennifer lives in California with her wife, poet/essayist Eileen Elizabeth, and their cat and dog.
About D.A. Powell
D. A. Powell's books include Repast, Useless Landscape or A Guide for Boys, and Chronic. Powell received the 2019 John Updike Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He teaches at the University of San Francisco.
Join us on Tuesday, August 13 at 7pm PT when Joshua Jennifer Espinoza celebrates the release of her collection, I Don't Want to Be Understood, with D.A. Powell at 9th Ave!
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or Watch Online/ Livestream link available soon
Praise for I Don't Want to Be Understood
"There are few writers as attuned to the potential of metaphor as Jennifer Espinoza, whose poems make this gesture something more like alchemy. From the first poem, where a trans woman stopped by the TSA blooms into a cloud of energy, Espinoza's poems enact a radical, surrealist, transmutation; her strange, dream-like recollections are spaces of un- and re-making, herself and the world. I Don't Want To Be Understood is simply a triumph--virtuosic, heartbreaking, and searing in its social critiques."--torrin a. greathouse
"I Don't Want to Be Understood is a blistering and a balm. Its speaker holds inside herself the garden, lush, the attending rot, seed and bloom, and the desire to be tended and tenderly so. Alongside the garden, Espinoza charts the cosmology of a woman come into herself in a world of violence, a world that would undo the wonder of this speaker. I leave this book deeply moved by Espinoza's insistence on nurturing a green hope, a green heart."--Donika Kelly
"The potent and focused fourth collection from Espinoza (There Should Be Flowers) captures the danger, mental strain, and transcendence of a trans woman's experience. ... At times devastating, at times chilling, this volume expresses an exhilarating defiance."--Publishers Weekly
About I Don't Want to Be Understood
A transsexual woman pieces together fragmented details of a repressive religious childhood and an unsupportive family, drawing from autobiographical experiences of the poet's life.
I Don't Want To Be Understood is a work of resistance against the conventional trans narrative, and a resistance against the idea that trans people should have to make themselves clear and understandable to others in other to deserve human rights. This is a compelling, urgent collection about the body and survival that asks how we learn to love in a culture where normal is defined by exclusion and discrimination.
These poems stretch from childhood to the present day--resisting typical narratives of self-discovery, resilience, and personal growth--and instead asks what it means to be granted or denied personhood by the world around you. It is a personal archive of a trans life laid out in all its messiness and unknowability, and is a book for anyone who has questioned why we place so many limitations on who gets to be considered a human being. These poems do not celebrate survival, but rather ask why transsexuals and other gender non-conforming people must fight so hard to survive in the first place.
About Joshua Jennifer Espinoza
Joshua Jennifer Espinoza is a trans woman poet. Her work has been featured in Poetry Maga- zine, The Paris Review, the American Poetry Review, The Rumpus, Poem-a-day, and elsewhere. She is the author of I'm Alive / It Hurts / I Love It (Big Lucks 2019) and There Should Be Flowers (The Accomplices 2016). She holds an MFA in poetry from UC Riverside and is currently a professor of creative writing. Jennifer lives in California with her wife, poet/essayist Eileen Elizabeth, and their cat and dog.
About D.A. Powell
D. A. Powell's books include Repast, Useless Landscape or A Guide for Boys, and Chronic. Powell received the 2019 John Updike Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He teaches at the University of San Francisco.
read more
Masks Encouraged for In-Person Attendance
Or Watch Online/ Livestream link available soon
Praise for I Don't Want to Be Understood
"There are few writers as attuned to the potential of metaphor as Jennifer Espinoza, whose poems make this gesture something more like alchemy. From the first poem, where a trans woman stopped by the TSA blooms into a cloud of energy, Espinoza's poems enact a radical, surrealist, transmutation; her strange, dream-like recollections are spaces of un- and re-making, herself and the world. I Don't Want To Be Understood is simply a triumph--virtuosic, heartbreaking, and searing in its social critiques."--torrin a. greathouse
"I Don't Want to Be Understood is a blistering and a balm. Its speaker holds inside herself the garden, lush, the attending rot, seed and bloom, and the desire to be tended and tenderly so. Alongside the garden, Espinoza charts the cosmology of a woman come into herself in a world of violence, a world that would undo the wonder of this speaker. I leave this book deeply moved by Espinoza's insistence on nurturing a green hope, a green heart."--Donika Kelly
"The potent and focused fourth collection from Espinoza (There Should Be Flowers) captures the danger, mental strain, and transcendence of a trans woman's experience. ... At times devastating, at times chilling, this volume expresses an exhilarating defiance."--Publishers Weekly
About I Don't Want to Be Understood
A transsexual woman pieces together fragmented details of a repressive religious childhood and an unsupportive family, drawing from autobiographical experiences of the poet's life.
I Don't Want To Be Understood is a work of resistance against the conventional trans narrative, and a resistance against the idea that trans people should have to make themselves clear and understandable to others in other to deserve human rights. This is a compelling, urgent collection about the body and survival that asks how we learn to love in a culture where normal is defined by exclusion and discrimination.
These poems stretch from childhood to the present day--resisting typical narratives of self-discovery, resilience, and personal growth--and instead asks what it means to be granted or denied personhood by the world around you. It is a personal archive of a trans life laid out in all its messiness and unknowability, and is a book for anyone who has questioned why we place so many limitations on who gets to be considered a human being. These poems do not celebrate survival, but rather ask why transsexuals and other gender non-conforming people must fight so hard to survive in the first place.
About Joshua Jennifer Espinoza
Joshua Jennifer Espinoza is a trans woman poet. Her work has been featured in Poetry Maga- zine, The Paris Review, the American Poetry Review, The Rumpus, Poem-a-day, and elsewhere. She is the author of I'm Alive / It Hurts / I Love It (Big Lucks 2019) and There Should Be Flowers (The Accomplices 2016). She holds an MFA in poetry from UC Riverside and is currently a professor of creative writing. Jennifer lives in California with her wife, poet/essayist Eileen Elizabeth, and their cat and dog.
About D.A. Powell
D. A. Powell's books include Repast, Useless Landscape or A Guide for Boys, and Chronic. Powell received the 2019 John Updike Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He teaches at the University of San Francisco.
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