In Lieu of Solutions

Violet Spurlock

"A crash course in 21st-century gender trouble, I have been waiting for a book like this forever, one that I could give to an ex-girlfriend, a secret crush, or a future self. Expansive, layered, unimpeachable, I sort of forgot poems could be like this--giddy, "prone to dizziness," and yes, a little reckless, but mainly in the way that it imagines the ontological realness of having titties while shamelessly flirting with the dialectic."--Lara Mimosa Montes

"This stunning debut collection by Violet Spurlock, a poet trained as a philosopher, is a trans ars poetica for our zeitgeist. Via a dazzling array of poetic forms, linguistic permutations, and neologisms Violet gives us an eye into the unresolved yet re-solving conundrum of being trans and a poet. Of transitioning but not transitioning yet. Waiting to transition. Having already transitioned and monitoring the size of one's 'titties'—so that rather than solutions, there is a way to live. A way towards life. A way of life. And the way is through poetry. 'A word was made different in response to a need,' she writes. And every word is spot on." — Julian Talamantez Brolaski