Full Description
A debut poetry collection drawing on horror-movie tropes to examine the body—both its traumas and its possibilities.
Scream / Queen, CD Eskilson's debut poetry collection, examines queerness, mental illness, and transgender identity through the lens of thrillers and B movies. The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Michael Myers, and the Headless Horseman are just a few of the fright-film villains and monsters that populate this book.
Eskilson's formally innovative poems document how a body—a nonbinary transgender body, a chronically ill body, a body carrying trauma—can be understood, accepted, and healed even in a violent sociopolitical climate. Drawing on the language and images of horror cinema, the poems' speakers find strength and the means to survive both family legacy and the pain inflicted on them: "I want to behemoth, be the biggest / violence in the galaxy," says one who thinks about Godzilla and dreams of "learning how to roar."
Though an atmosphere of trans panic and state legislation against trans bodies pervades the book, Scream / Queen ultimately conjures a world of hope and tenderness through connection and care. It celebrates all the body's possibilities: the glorious and the monstrous. As a werewolf in the book says, "I kiss the moon; it took so long / to get here."
Contents
Found / Footage
On Witchcraft 6
After Failing to Come Out Again, the Apparition Comes 7
What Starts as a List Poem About OCD 8
A Brief History of Broken Glass 10
King Ghidorah 12
Burning Haibun for Geryon 14
Palos Verdes 15
How Are They Picking the Next Halloween Director? 16
Deleted Scene: Each Time I'm Trans Enough 17
Body / Horror
Recipe for Roasted Broccoli 20
Dystychipaphobia, or Fear of Accidents 21
Heredity 23
Ghost Story with My Uncle 24
Portrait with Inconclusive Lab Results 25
When People Tell You GAD Can't Be that Bad 26
Confession from Medusa's Head 27
During Intro to Film Theory 29
Update on HIM from Powerpuff Girls 30
At the Midnight Show of Sleepaway Camp 31
Jump / Scare
Prey: A Gloss 33
Trans Panic Contrapuntal 37
Fan Mail for the Headless Horseman 38
Be My Baby 39
I Séance with My Uncle at MacArthur Park 41
Finsta of Icarus in Drag 42
Accidental Selfie in the Photo of a Window Quote 43
My Roommate Buffalo Bill 44
Para / Normal
I Still Haven't Seen The Fly 47
How to Be Happy 48
Hollywood Forever Cemetery 50
The Demon King Paimon Comes by for Monstera Clippings 51
Arkansas Bans Healthcare for Trans Youth 52
Transcestor Creation Myth 53
The Ocean Within Me 54
Every Man Their Mortal Enemy, Every Woman's Beauty Prey 57
Super / Natural
Our Family Leaves the Haunted House 59
When Meryl Streep Sings "Dancing Queen" in Mamma Mia! 60
Portrait as Werewolf 61
What I Will Write About My Father 62
Since Moving from the Beach 63
Reversed House Cleansing 64
Ode to an Anti-Joke 65
Draft Message to My Sibling After Top Surgery 66
Notes 67
Acknowledgments
