Author and trans-rights advocate Kelsey L. Smoot launches poetry collection ‘We Was Bois Together’

Walking into the Atlanta Theatre on Saturday, June 29 felt more like attending a family reunion than a discussion on a book release. Lauryn Hill’s music blasted through the speakers, attendees embraced each other as if they had been separated for years, this was a celebration.

The Atlanta Theatre welcomed Kelsey L. Smoot, a poet, author, and trans-rights activist, for the signing and reading of their book, “We Was Bois Together,” a collection of poems explores themes of identity, community, and the intersectionality of race, gender, and sexuality.

The evening began with a conversation moderated by Tiana Brawley and Smoot reflected on their journey from their early years to their current doctoral studies. Smoot, a PhD student at the College of William and Mary, moved to Atlanta in the winter of 2022 to start their doctoral research. They are now in the final year of their dissertation, focusing on masculinity and identity formation at the nexus of race, gender, and sexuality.

Smoot explained the title of their collection as an allusion to Toni Morrison’s 1973 novel “Sula.” In Morrison’s novel, character’s Nel and Sula share a profound connection that withstands the twists and turns of life, culminating in a revelation of their bond. Smoot elaborated to the audience who may not have read the book with, “Nel and Sula grew up together, and life really brings them through a series of twists and turns, and eventually they have this huge falling out. At the end of the book, one of the characters really has this revelation of how much the other one meant to her. The line ‘we were girls together’ is a profound expression of grief and love, an intense realization of this lifelong affinity they’ve had for one another,” Smoot said.

Smoot’s collection includes poems they wrote at various stages of their life. “Transitory” and “The Body (in theory)” are two of the earliest poems. Smoot wrote “Transitory” while grappling with the desire for top surgery and the associated anxieties. “The Body in Theory” reflected their feelings of dysphoria and the process of coming out as trans. These poems served as the backbone for the collection, with everything else growing from there.

“I wrote poems everywhere,” Smoot shared, describing their creative process. “I have two kinds of processes. Sometimes the poem is already written, and I just have to put my pen to the paper. Other times, like with ‘Dark Matter,’ I challenge myself to learn a new form and sit down to write deliberately, ” said Smooth. Often jotting down phrases or words in their notes app, which Smoot would later bring together as complete poems. Smoot further cited some poems just flowing out spontaneously in moments of inspiration, while others were more deliberate, crafted at the kitchen table or during quiet moments.

“There is no wrong way to be a gay Black girl ,” begins the poem “Dark Matter,” a sestina. (a fixed verse form consisting of six stanzas of six lines each, normally followed by a three-line envoi.) Smoot recounting their initial fear of writing in this form said, “I was terrified of form, so much so that I was like, ‘Ah, I don’t need that.’ But there was a moment where I decided to take poetry seriously. I sat at my kitchen table, Googled how to write a sestina, and mapped out the end words one by one,” Smoot said. The particular poem explores the intersections of girlhood and boyhood, serving as a love letter to the way Smoot and their friends grew up.

Smoot’s work reflects their personal journey through various gender identities. They have been identified as a stud, a black queer masculine-of-center woman, genderqueer, non-binary, and finally as transmasculine non-binary. This fluidity demonstrates their ongoing journey of self-discovery and authenticity.

“I want my readers to understand that there is so much power, joy, and liberation to be found in a radical reclamation of imperfect masculinity,” Smoot expressed.

During the event, Smoot shared, “I want my community to know that every single person I’ve interacted with over the last few years has informed these poems. Your support and presence mean the world to me”.

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