Tuesday's Trans Writer: Julian Talamantez Brolaski

I’m cheating here and posting a poem already published by editor Anne Boyers in the New York Times Magazine by the poet Julian Talamantez Brolaski (whose pronoun are: it, its, they, then and them some.

wild and blue

if there were a kink in the light
or if the note bent a little
we would know we were at the edge
of its expressive spectrum
I had it on good authority the west wind
comes from something more like the south.
it was because the mountains cascaded headlong toward
the sea and not parallel to it. it was because of the
great herons and the sundowner winds. the sweet breath of
the zephyr, saith chaucer, breathes itself into us.
christ, when will it blow.
I’m in the corner w/ the dust and the dust bunnies,
crying my eyes out. it’s no picnic, well it is a sort of picnic,
and there’s sand pouring thru the holes in the
picnic basket….
I’m wild except when I’m blue,
and then I am conventional,
stalking silhouettes on the curtain, and imagining
the worst. as for the kink of light in the yonder, and the feeling
that blued the note, well, we only know it
for its availability to bending

I heard Brolaski read its poems a couple of years ago and was transfixed (no pun intended). Really blown away. I’ve gotten better at pronouns, but “it” is, admittedly hard for me. So too was learning just how many people Brolaski is.

I got the following information from the website of the speaker agency that represents they/it, Blue Flower Arts. As an academic, I’m pretty goddamned impressed.

“Brolaski holds a PhD from UC Berkeley, an MFA from Mills College, and a BA from UC Santa Cruz. It has taught at UC Berkeley, NYU, the New School, Poets House, and other institutions. It has been the recipient of fellowships at Yaddo, the Montalvo Center for the Arts, and the Millay Colony.”

But there’s more:

“It is the lead singer and rhythm guitarist in the country bands The Western Skyline (Oakland), and Juan & the Pines (Brooklyn); it was also in the NYC-based bands The Low & the Lonesome, and the Invert Family Singers. Brolaski has sung with the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (BAAITS) drum at San Francisco Pride, the Queer Women of Color Music Festival, and the San Francisco LGBT Transgender Day of Remembrance. Brolaski has performed its poetry and music all over the world, at literary festivals and venues in Brazil, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway.”

This makes me realize I need to reassess my generalized rejection of country music.

When I saw Brolaski read, I was particularly moved by what I heard as love poems. Indeed, this poet is described as 21st century troubadour.

And if you really want to geek out, watch the talk The End of the Line: Rhyme and the Poetics of Authority” Brolaski recently gave at The Poetry Project.

I’m going to be honest and say that is very difficult for me to understand Brolaski’s poetry. Apparently, I can hear its music, wildly. Yet, I find myself unable to strictly comprehend I’m reading. And I suspect this has to do with how I read.

But here’s what Brolaski and I share as writers:

 “I’m interested in the way that language and song function as medicine,” explains Brolaski. “My songs are infused with the enthusiasm of addressing a person you’re newly in love with and intending to elicit a response, make them feel pleasure, and heal their hurts.” 

That’s epic.