Overview

Richard struggled for much of his life with a mystery. Why was he uneasy and uncomfortable? Why did he feel like an imposter? In his sixties, he made a discovery that would change his life and his creative work. He realized that his life as a man did not fit with who he knew himself to be. He began the journey of transition that led him to emerge in his San Francisco community as ""Richelle Lee,"" leaving ""Richard"" behind. This powerful book of poems by Richelle is a magnificent collection of metrical poetry that gifts the reader with honest passion and delightful good humor. Richelle Lee Slota's poems open themselves to the world in private and public ""letters"" that dare to test a society full of hate and division. These letters/poems are stronger than the terror and rejection the writer faces. The beauty of her rhythm and her emotional honesty--and Richelle's dazzling technical energy--reach out to anyone seeking optimism and hope and provide nourishment. ""Catch the cis-brained psyches' sober iambs/write, thrumming clever like a cleaver transgender tie-ins,"" Richelle writes. See the gifted person who has discarded her dead name and be captivated, enlarged, and changed by this writer of unique and moving poetry, who courageously signs her new name to every poem.

Full Product Details

9781958728314

Table of Contents

Reviews

In Richelle Lee Slota's Letters to My Dead Name, each letter grips the reader and causes reflection on what it is to live a life where you do not feel you belong or where you feel helpless to be the person you want to become. In varied meters and forms, Slota reveals her agency in poems labeled as private letters and public letters. Her private letter poems share deep vulnerability and intimacy that allow the reader to feel the conflict writhing in her narrator's body. Her public letter poems allow her shadow to become a path of transformation for anyone ready to follow. This magnificent collection of metrical poetry contains an overarching passion and a good dose of humor. Lines like ""Catch the cis-brained psyches' sober iambs / write, thrumming clever like a cleaver transgender tie-ins"" relax the reader into seeing the human behind the ""dead name"" and to be captivated by the human proudly signing their true name after each letter. - Kim Malinowski, author of Buffy's House of Mirrors Letters to My Dead Name illuminates the ways that gender norms and assumptions confuse, divide, restrict and terrify. These intimate and inviting epistolary poems lift off the page, singing an anthem for the trans community. Richelle Lee Slota's expert use of rhyme is unparalleled in today's poetic landscape. Her rhymes are integral to each poem. They create a dazzling energy that is sometimes playful, sometimes ironic and sometimes devastating: ""Mother like an army/raped the darling child/ unhinged, glassy-eyed, wild."" Richelle Lee Slota is not afraid to confront trauma and expose those who have tried to destroy her, yet optimism prevails again and again. Refusing to give in to hate, insisting on finding joy, Richelle Lee Slota is ""taking back the flowers."" --Autumn Newman, author of A Flower Burst Open In Letters to My Dead Name, Richelle Slota both grieves and celebrates the death of a mother, a gender, and a way of being. Her stunningly visceral takes on the traditional nostalgia poem will have you enraptured by her embodiment of rhythm and her emotional honesty. Slota's poetry is the perfect marriage of love song and fuck you. -Jennifer Schomburg Kanke, author of The Swellest Wife Anyone Ever Had

Author Information

Thomasina DeMaio painted the cover image which was photographed by Thomas Heinser. Dan Stricker designed the cover.

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