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Holy Wild
Holy Wild | Gwen Benaway
14 posts | 7 read | 12 to read
In her third collection of poetry, Holy Wild, Gwen Benaway explores the complexities of being an Indigenous trans women in expansive lyric poems. She holds up the Indigenous trans body as a site of struggle, liberation, and beauty. A confessional poet, Benaway narrates her sexual and romantic intimacies with partners as well as her work to navigate the daily burden of transphobia and violence. She examines the intersections of Indigenous and trans experience through autobiographical poems and continues to speak to the legacy of abuse, violence, and colonial erasure that defines Canada. Her sparse lines, interwoven with English and Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe), illustrate the wonder and power of Indigenous trans womanhood in motion. Holy Wild is not an easy book, as Benaway refuses to give any simple answers, but it is a profoundly vibrant and beautiful work filled with a transcendent grace.
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quote
Lindy
Holy Wild | Gwen Benaway
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the sound I make is a blackbird‘s cry.
here is the wild heart of me,
rush of heat on your fullness,
this is the holy wild she made me.
a woman‘s sex is as sacred as her land,
my ancestors learned from creation,
a woman is as holy wild as
her body‘s made to be.

#LGBTQ #poetry

Cathythoughts ❤️ 5y
35 likes1 comment
quote
Lindy
Holy Wild | Gwen Benaway
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remember you
are not wrong
neither are your lovers
who love you—
confused and changing
like you love the earth
under the weight of spring
as summer breaks open
as everything is blessed
by its sudden wonder
forgive us our sins
daughter of yourself
as we forgive you
the miracle of your being.

36 likes1 comment
review
Lindy
Holy Wild | Gwen Benaway
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Pickpick

“do not perform your body, / be a holy place only the blessed can enter.” #trans woman Benaway‘s award-winning collection of intimate, autobiographical #poems uses a confessional conversational style to talk about sex & love & violence & transitioning within the larger context of #Canadian (colonial) society. She writes about forgiveness, & also of finding sanctuary & healing in nonhuman entities, like water & forests. 💜#LGBTQ

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Lindy
Holy Wild | Gwen Benaway
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her name is kiiwe*
[…]

but rivers and trans girls know something
you will never know

how to find our way back
across wastelands

to the lakes we belong to,
kiiwe is a verb but also a promise.

*goes home

#poetry

38 likes1 stack add
quote
Lindy
Holy Wild | Gwen Benaway
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what sleeps in language is what sleeps in me,
possibilities and consequences
for which the surface has no hope,
an unwritten alphabet of shadows
I learn in secret, undercover from a hormonal moon
in a dark tongue.

#trans #poetry

charl08 Beautifully put. 5y
Lindy @charl08 😊 5y
42 likes1 stack add2 comments
quote
Lindy
Holy Wild | Gwen Benaway
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you are a boy born to conquer every gentle place
in every woman you meet, always bent toward discovery

a brave word your ancestors used

to disguise
conquest

37 likes1 stack add
quote
Lindy
Holy Wild | Gwen Benaway
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her body is made of moments
where grace found her,
she sleeps in forests
only she can name.

#LGBT #poetry

readordierachel I liked this collection a lot. 5y
Lindy @readordierachel Me too. There are passages I‘ve stopped myself from quoting on Litsy because of the strong language, but those words are perfect in context. 5y
41 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
xicanti
Holy Wild | Gwen Benaway
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Breakfast smoothie + poetry. I‘m so glad my library finally bought some of Gwen Benaway‘s work. I discovered her through an anthology and was mighty disappointed I couldn‘t charge right into her bibliography.

readordierachel I really liked this one 👍🏼 5y
xicanti @readordierachel me, too. She‘s a powerful writer. 5y
29 likes2 comments
review
elizabethlk
Holy Wild | Gwen Benaway
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Pickpick

This is such a fabulous poetry collection. Gwen Benaway is a talented poet and has a way of drawing you into her experiences as a trans and indigenous woman. Her poetry style is definitely my cup of tea as well. I definitely recommend this.

Also, anyone in need of their poetry collection category for #readharder will find that this one meets those needs!

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review
Bibliogeekery
Holy Wild | Gwen Benaway
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Pickpick

Gwen Benaway has written another powerful collection of poems reflecting on her life as an Indigenous trans woman. It's raw, it's beautiful, it's raunchy, it's sad. #transbooks #queerbooks #poetry

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Bibliogeekery
Holy Wild | Gwen Benaway
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Cathythoughts Very good 💫 6y
51 likes1 comment
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Bibliogeekery
Holy Wild | Gwen Benaway
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Cathythoughts I love it 😍😍😍 6y
52 likes1 stack add1 comment
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Bibliogeekery
Holy Wild | Gwen Benaway
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Great line!! I love the idea of Ikea selling us a lie about love! 😂 #transbooks #queerbooks #poetry

51 likes1 stack add
blurb
Bibliogeekery
Holy Wild | Gwen Benaway
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46 likes2 stack adds