Theoretical You

Theoretical You is a collection of autobiographical queer love poems told from the perspective of a single speaker. These love poems speak not only to lovers and exes, but also to lust and sex and desire, to the speaker's father (they do not reciprocate the cruelty he has shown her--they are neither malicious nor vindictive), and perhaps most importantly, to the speaker herself--she recognizes herself as a lesbian, as a human, who deserves to love and be loved.

While love is the crux of these poems, the collection is just as much about heartbreak (which is, of course, inevitably tied to love, is the consequence of love), heartbreak others have inflicted on the speaker and heartbreak she has inflicted on herself, having walked out on many of the women she addresses in the collection. The poems work to navigate the challenges of heartbreak by confronting homophobia, familial rejection, gender binaries and the appearance norms tied to them, as well as the grief that comes with simply being unable to stop missing someone. Here is a young woman who still loves every woman she has ever been with, who has so much love to give, who has a father who refuses to accept her, in a world that is often cruel. All of this together creates the complicated situation of being perpetually heartbroken, even when the speaker is happily in a relationship, even though she has learned to love herself.