DESCRIPTION: The body is a site of identity, but often does not represent an internal, felt sense of self, especially for transgender and gender non-conforming people. On the other hand, processes of self-acceptance and/or transition can transform the body as a place of dysphoria into one of self-expression. In this workshop, we will explore, from a queer and transgender perspective, the tradition of a “soul” or speaker addressing the body in a poem. In the first part of the class, we will read and discuss the poems “I Talk to My Body,” by Anna Swir, “homage to my hips” by Lucille Clifton and “Letter to My Body” by Joy Ladin. Following our discussion, participants will be given writing prompts, guiding them to address their body while centering (Celebrating! Bemoaning! Both! ) queerness and/or transness.
E. PARKER PHILLIPS is a writer and non-binary femme based in Miami, Florida. Parker has taught two previous poetry workshops for Reading Queer, one also in conjunction with Trans Art. Parker co-founded and co-hosts Queer and Trans Yoga at Agni Miami. Parker’s poems have appeared in Voluble (A LARB channel), The Sensations Feelings Journal, Jai-Alai Magazine, Hinchas de Poesia, Tigertail’s collection of work by the Miami Poetry Collective, and assorted cent journals. Parker has also performed at The Miami Book Fair as well as BFI’s Weird Miami Bus Tour.
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