Poetry Grrrowl: Lyric Sexology Vol 1. + Trish Salah

Poetry Grrrowl with us all month long and get 15% OFF all of our featured collections until April 30th!

Interview with the Poet

All Lit Up: Tell us about your collection.Trish Salah: Lyric Sexology, Vol 1 is a poetic sequence that explores different archives in which gender variance and trans possibility has been written, like historical sexology, or feminist science fiction of the 1970s and 80s. It picks up different languages in which trans sexuality or transgender has been imagined and tries to do something new, critical and curious with them. It was first published by Roof in New York in 2014, and in 2017, the lovely folks at Metonymy brought an expanded, and gorgeous Canadian edition.  Currently I’m working on Volume 2. ALU: What is your process for beginning a poem? Has it changed since you began writing?TS: It varies a lot depending upon the type of poem. At root though, I am always running language through my brain, and writing in dialogue with what I’m reading and thinking about. A poem begins when language catches somewhere, or simply when I sit down to it.ALU: What sparked your initial love of poetry?TS: Song and storytelling. So folk ballads, swoony seventies mystical art rock concept albums, punk. And myths and legends. ALU: Who are some of your fave women of poetry?TS: Some of my fave women poets include, Etel Adnan, M. NourbeSe Philip, Joy Ladin, Harryette Mullen, Trace Peterson, Gwen Benaway, Sina Queyras, Jos Charles, Dionne Brand, Kai Cheng Thom… ALU: What do you find most informs and inspires your writing?TS: Desire, and politics, and how weird language is. ALU: If you had one superpower, what would it be? Could you describe it in a haiku?TS: Her power, simplyTo slow down, speed, time travelWhy so melancholy?* * *

A Poem from Lyric Sexology Vol. 1

“Eulalia for Mother Night” * * *

Born in Halifax, Trish Salah is the author of Wanting in Arabic (TSAR 2002, 2013) and Lyric Sexology Vol. 1 (Roof 2014, Metonymy 2017) and co-editor of special issues of Canadian Review of American Studies 35.2 (2005) and TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly 1.4 (2014). The 2013 edition of Wanting in Arabic won the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction. At the University of Winnipeg she organized the conferences Writing Trans Genres: Emergent Literatures and Criticism and Decolonizing and Decriminalizing Trans Genres. Currently an assistant professor of Gender Studies at Queen’s University, she is a member of the editorial boards of TSQ, Eoagh, and Topia.* * *During the month of April, you can buy Lyric Sexology Vol. 1 as well as any of our featured Poetry Grrrowl books for 15% off (+ we’ll send you a stack of our exclusive temporary tattoos and stickers to show off your woman pride!)Keep up with us all month on   Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook with the hashtag #poetrygrrrowl.BONUS: Test your knowledge of all the rad women of poetry with our Poetry Grrrowl quiz!