“If they try to strip you / of your technicolor robes / show them how the sun/ the moon / the stars / all kneel to Queens,” (Austin, “Genesis 37).
Someday, I will be smart enough to write about poetry. But until then, you’ll have to deal with this.
I love Emily Austin and when I learned she was writing a poetry book that was queering bible verses, I knew I had to read it. Having read Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead, I guessed that she must have been raised Catholic because the knowledge she had of the church and the shame and guilt that are often felt by those formerly (or currently) practicing was clearly felt in her debut novel, and her debut poetry book confirms that. But instead of focusing on the shame and guilt that former-Catholics have felt, Austin’s poetry acts as a reformation.
Austin takes her time with the bible verses she reworks, turning them into words of love and pride. She writes to all of those who have ever felt less than by the church and tells them that they matter, that they are more, that they should not ever hide their light under a bushel basket, and I am so happy this book exists. I know it will be a collection I go back to and read over and over. It is good to read books that teach love.
Emily Austin, I will read anything you write EVER! Keep it coming!
Publication: March 1 2024
Publisher: Brick Books
Pages: 72 pages (Paperback)
Source: Owned
Genre: Poetry
My Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤⛤
Summary:
A collection of poetry reclaiming Catholic prayers and biblical passages to empower girls, women, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. The extreme level of sass in Emily Austin’s Gay Girl Prayers does not mean that this collection is irreverent. On the contrary, in rewriting Bible verses to affirm and uplift queer, feminist, and trans realities, Austin invites readers into a giddy celebration of difference and a tender appreciation for the lives and perspectives of strange women. Packed with zingy one liners, sexual innuendo, self-respect, U-Hauling, and painfully earnest declarations of love, this is gayness at its best, harnessed to a higher purpose and ready to fight the powers that be.
Sarah O'Connor 