QT Bundle

Featuring texts that explore and examine queer and trans identities, this diverse three-book bundle includes TC Tolbert’s i:not he:not i (2014), Cleo Meyer’s Two and Two and Two Is (2019), and Edie Roberts’ Ain’t Life Grand (2020). This bundle is for those who yearn to follow brave and endearingly transparent examinations of self—coming out the other end of the tunnel both more critical and unapologetically alive.

tc tolbert‘s i:not he:not i shows us what a singing, breathing body is–– offers a cyclical, careful examination of the tiny miracle-machines beneath the skin. liz kramer’s vibrant colored collages offer diagrams for the dreamed up bodies of tc’s immortal poetry and prose.

Art by Liz Kramer

Two and Two and Two Is makes slow circles through pop pantomime and a characteristic slow aching midwestern alien agony. Cleo Meyer is mysterious and masterful with the pace of meandering and searching for meaning while waiting to score outside of a fast food joint, playfully swapping a bra on and off of gender, portioning escape by the hands of The White Duke and the wisdom of Donna Summer. This book is an exploration of mood and form and tone that doesn’t lose track of itself. Meyer handles the humor without losing the depth. This book is sedative and reflective, a little world of its own with the radio on.

Illustrated by Eliot Humphreys

Ain’t Life Grand, edie roberts’ sixth solo chapbook, is a collection of poems offering us a slight deviation from the form and tonality of their previous work––while not sparing the pressing subject matter. ALG does not swim frantically, but rather soaks deeply in the dark, dank pond of our american anxiety state––a state full of dead cats and cold doctor’s hands. roberts’ macabre and exacting attention to the details of our current world leaves you with a strange but comforting sense of not being alone. there is no cotillion charge into the smog of gun smoke and gas emissions––just numbed limbs lifting themselves high enough for one final stand.