Outside Of The Body There Is Something Like Hope

by Joshua Jennifer Espinoza

In Outside Of The Body There Is Something Like Hope, Joshua Jennifer Espinoza reclaims a cloudy, dream-like girlhood and simultaneously reckons with the dense trauma of being trans in a world so often interested in literally trying to kill her. Espinoza invokes both the lightness and heaviness of living, loving, struggling, and thriving within a trans body and outside it: she brings the celestial plane down to our gritty Earth and we are better for it. A narrative of growing pains & a triumphant call-to-arms for the liberation of all bodies, this tiny book allows us to breathe this air beyond the clouds and * ultimately requires us to return anew & changing & filled with (something like) hope.

Genres: Poetry, Queer, LGBT, Transgender

46 pages, Unknown Binding

First published October 1, 2018

About the author

Joshua Jennifer Espinoza is a trans woman poet living in California. Her work has been published in Denver Quarterly, The American Poetry Review, Lambda Literary, PEN America, The Offing, and elsewhere. She is the author of two poetry collections: i’m alive / it hurts / i love it (boost house 2014), and THERE SHOULD BE FLOWERS (CCM 2016).

Reviews

[Kai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved every minute of reading (and re-reading) these poems <3 Fellow trans folx should definitely read this, though everyone would love it I'm sure.

[Caroline Meek · Rating 5 out of 5]

These poems are incredible, and they've been arranged in such an intentional and powerful way. Jennifer Espinoza processes what reality is, what it looks and feels like to exist in the world as a trans person, and how trauma lives in the body. Advocating for her community amidst profound and honest moments, Espinoza puts forth a hope for a lighter, kinder world, and tracks her journey through dysphoria, determination, and cultivation of self-love.

“any time I’m doing something I’m doing / something I’m afraid of. This makes each experience / seem new and old at the same time”

These lines are from "Personal Statement," my favorite poem in the book! They're exemplary of many other world-shaking moments that have the potential to really burrow into a reader ready to feel something. I read this book in one sitting, out loud at my kitchen table, and froze multiple times to reread a line or stanza. "Outside the Body" found my heart within the course of a single page and held me the whole way – this one will be sticking with me.

[Lucca Ángel · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I’m a witch and I get all my powers from the wind. Wow. Aren’t I special? Don’t you want to love me with all of your heart for the next ten seconds? Don’t you want to rescue me from all the things that make you feel safe?”

Quite literally trying not to cry as I write this. This was beautiful, important, and it deserves to take up space. Being trans is a crazy, fantastic, ugly, and beautiful thing that I am blessed to experience, and to share that experience with other people.

Obviously I am not a trans woman, so I can never feel exactly the way the author feels, but even though I am technically her opposite (trans masc) we have been through the same things. That is just so beautiful to me, to read this and go “I don’t know what you are going through, but I know.”

This made me appreciate life again. Thank you to the woman who gave it to me. Five stars!

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love, Love, LOVE these poems!! They are so beautifully written, powerful, emotionally resonant, expressive, and go straight through the heart and reaches the soul and grabs it. As a trans woman I felt so much from these poems and I can also see the evolution and beautiful transformation of the author through these verses. They capture the things underneath the surface so intricately with great detail and nuance. I felt and remembered much of my self in these verses.

I’ve had this on my list for a while and was very sad to find out that it was a limited run and out of print. I was desperate to get a hold of a copy but to no avail. Finally I decided to email the publisher big lucks and they kindly mailed me a copy that they had left for free ! Thank you Orchid at big lucks!!

[Jaime Fountaine · Rating 5 out of 5]

OUTSIDE OF THE BODY THERE IS SOMETHING LIKE HOPE is a beautiful object full of beautiful poems that came with a beautiful t-shirt. I read it during my most stressful workday to date, and it gave me some peace.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This older (2018) book by one of my favorite poets is still one I go back to and love. It has never been more timely. An entire generation of trans kids has had their hope buoyed up and their fears about living into their bodies and just staying alive validated by this slim volume. No one reminds us better of the dangers, the challenges, and the joy of living outside the cis.
I still have the t-shirt that came with this volume. It says “I have big plans. They involve staying alive.”
Espinoza also has a full length collection, I Don't Want to Be Understood, coming out in 2024 from Alice James Books.

[The Voracious Bibliophile · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so lucky to get a copy of this chapbook from a limited printing of 550. Espinoza is one of the best poets we have writing today.

First reading: finished October 4, 2018
Second reading: finished June 6, 2019