Mr. Sexsmith

Dear Author,

We want your words.

What is the project: We are creating an anthology. An anthology of the best poems out there by trans and genderqueer writers and we would love to include your work in the book. Our assumption is that the writing of trans and genderqueer folks has something more than coincidence in common with the experimental, the radical, and the innovative in poetry and poetics (as we idiosyncratically define these categories), and with your help we’d like to manifest that something (or somethings) in a genderqueer multipoetics, a critical mass of trans fabulousness.

This anthology is edited by TC Tolbert and Tim Peterson (Trace)—both trans-identified poets. It will be published by EOAGH Books in early 2012, and you can bet it will be widely distributed!

We encourage submissions by people of color, people with disabilities, people educated by life or school or some of both or neither, people with no publications or a gazillion. We encourage bilingual poems, poems by trans folks who are non-native English speakers, poems that do stuff with language we couldn’t even imagine until now. Here’s the deal: we want the best poetry by trans and/or genderqueer identified writers in the galaxy. Please help us make that happen.  Send us your most phenomenal work!

Deadline for Submissions: Nov 30, 2011
What to Submit: 7-10 pages of poetry (no more than 1 poem per page), and a prose “poetics” statement (see below) in .doc, .docx, or pdf format.  We prefer unpublished poems but will consider previously published work.  Please let us know where, when, and by whom your work has been published when you submit.  Thanks!
Where to Submit: email us at transanthology@gmail.com

Why is this anthology important: While trans and genderqueer poets have existed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, there has never been a collection of poetry exclusively by trans and genderqueer writers that also highlights a diverse range of poetics and other marginalized identities. Each particular understanding of self and gender creates an essentially complex and rich multipoetics that undermines any sort of universal trans aesthetic. Inherently multi-vocal and anti-hegemonic, a singular trans experience simply does not exist and, frankly, we don’t want it to. For this reason, an anthology is the most conducive venue for undoing any attempted whitewashing and/or homogenizing of an imagined trans voice. As we said, we want your words. The words, syntax, perspective, lyric, narrative, image (or the disruption of any of these) that could actually only come from you.

What kind of writing are we looking for: This anthology seeks writing that makes us wet our panties a little bit and wonder what the f* have we been doing with our lives all this time. Subject matter and/or content is open – you do not need to send us only poems about gender (although you may).  While this project exists in a historical context of several important anthologies that gather marginalized and under-represented writers (This Bridge Called My Back, No More Masks, The World in Us, Premonitions, The Open Boat, etc), this will be the first anthology to foreground the poetic writings of trans and genderqueer authors. The book will feature 7-10 pages of work from approximately 35 poets and we hope you will be one of them!

A meta-layer of fabulous: One thing that makes this anthology unique is that it will include a statement on poetics by each participant, along with your poems. This is a chance for you to tell us something about your writing process, writing practice, theory of life, or whatever you like. It might include the relationship of the body and text, or the practice of reading and misreading text and the body, or locations, connections, and divisions of the self amongst text and the self amongst other bodies or…you get the point.

About the editors:

TC Tolbert is a genderqueer, feminist poet and teacher committed to social justice. S/he is the Assistant Director of Casa Libre en la Solana and an Adjunct Instructor at The University of Arizona and Pima Community College. S/he is the creator of Made for Flight, a youth empowerment project that utilizes creative writing and kite building to commemorate murdered transgender people and to dismantle homophobia and transphobia. TC’s chapbook, territories of folding, was recently published by Kore Press. His poems can be found in Volt, The Pinch, Drunken Boat, Shampoo, A Trunk of Delirium, jubilat, andEOAGH. His work won the Arizona Statewide Poetry Competition in 2010 and was a Sawtooth finalist in 2009 and 2010. His first full length collection, Gephyromania, is forthcoming from Ahsahta Press. www.tctolbert.com

Tim Peterson (Trace) is a trans-identified poet, critic, and editor. The author of Since I Moved In (Chax Press), and Violet Speech (2nd Avenue Poetry), Peterson also editsEOAGH: A Journal of the Arts (which published a special issue Queering Languagededicated to trans poet and mentor kari edwards in 2007). Peterson’s poetry and criticism have been published in Colorado Review, EBR, Five Fingers Review, Harvard Review, Leonardo Electronic Almanac, The Poetry Project Newsletter, Transgender Tapestry, and in the recent book NO GENDER: Reflections on the Life and Work of kari edwards(Belladonna/Limus Press). A Ph.D. student in English at CUNY Graduate Center, Peterson curates the TENDENCIES: Poetics & Practice talks series dedicated to queer writing and the manifesto. More information at http://tendenciespoetics.com

We are incredibly excited about this project and look forward to working with you!

Thank you!

TC and Trace