I Don’t Want to Be Understood

The potent and focused fourth collection from Espinoza (There Should Be Flowers) captures the danger, mental strain, and transcendence of a trans woman’s experience. The raucous opener, “Airport Ritual,” crystallizes the book’s rejection of normativity as a trans speaker goes through airport security. As she is pulled aside for a pat-down, her genitals explode through her clothes, becoming “an amorphous blob of cosmic energy” that absorbs the entire airport, then the city of Irvine, Calif. Espinoza addresses topics that are widely relatable to women, including the gut-wrenching fear of being accosted on the street and the worry that wearing makeup makes one complicit with the patriarchy. She also powerfully hits upon moments of joy, as when she describes having her name changed legally in court: “The man says Jennifer and/ it’s like suddenly I exist.” In an anthem responding to anti-trans internet rhetoric, she vows to “stay alive forever and suffer the fate of the sun and the heat death of the universe just to spite everyone.” “The Front Door” describes growing up in an abusive household with a haunting, surreal slant: “A hungry dog inside her sternum screams when it opens.// She knows he is coming inside.” At times devastating, at times chilling, this volume expresses an exhilarating defiance. (Aug.)