Salamat sa Intersectionality

by Dani Putney

SALAMAT SA INTERSECTIONALITY, Dani Putney’s debut poetry collection, is a poetic triptych that traces the evolution of the speaker’s identity as a queer, non-binary, mixed-race Filipinx, and neurodivergent individual. Each “panel” of the speaker’s life represents a distinct period of growth: a youthful beginning, which features important interactions with the speaker’s parents; a sexually charged middle period that demonstrates the speaker’s explorations of queer sexuality; and a contemplative third section wherein the speaker reckons with their various “selves.” Imagery of the American West percolates through the collection to ground the speaker in their intersectional identity.

Genres: Poetry

108 pages, Paperback

First published May 18, 2021

About the author

Dani Putney is a queer, non-binary, mixed-race Filipinx, and neurodivergent writer originally from Sacramento, California. They are the author of Mix-Mix (Baobab Press, 2025) and Salamat sa Intersectionality (Okay Donkey Press, 2021), finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in Transgender Poetry. They are also the author of the poetry chapbook Dela Torre (Sundress Publications, 2022) and the creative nonfiction chapbook Swallow Whole (Bullshit Press, 2024), and they have received support for their work from Nevada Humanities, the Nevada Arts Council, the Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference, and the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, among other organizations. Their poetry appears in outlets such as Bennington Review, Cream City Review, Foglifter, Grist, Hayden’s Ferry Review, and Puerto del Sol, among others, while their creative nonfiction can be found in journals such as Crab Creek Review, Glassworks Magazine, Quarterly West, and So to Speak, among others. They received their PhD in English from Oklahoma State University and MFA in Creative Writing from Mississippi University for Women. They are a senior technical editor and team lead for an environmental, engineering, and architectural consulting firm and live in Reno, Nevada.

Reviews

[Lori]

I am thrilled to be partnering back up with Okay Donkey Press to help promote Dani Putney's debut poetry collection! This book is going to rock your world. It's raw and risque, gorgeous and glistening, sexy and slutty...

If you are interested in writing a review, or interviewing Dani, please get in touch!

[Lauren Rhoades · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gorgeous debut collection. The poems are visceral and erotic and painful and beautiful.

[Claire Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was sent Dani's book prior to an interview I will be doing with them, and I'm so honored to be able to read and talk with Dani about this truly stunning poetry debut! The three "panels" of this collection represent different periods of growth; from childhood to the sexually charged young adult stage to now, in which the poet contemplates their many senses of self. Some of my favorite poems in this collection are "Pearls," "Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf Talk on my Thighs," "If They Equals You," and "Dear Jeremy." The writing in this is so beautiful, and I'm excited to be able to return to these poems time and time again. One of my favorite verses:

What I really mean:
I hope I didn't turn you off
to Raphaelite beauty,
discourage you from the allure
of humanity's androgyny—
if I'm not beautiful,
what am I? What gets me
by is queer narcissism, a love
of replicating myself
through those around me.

Thank you for this, Dani!

[Hot Redhead Media · Rating 5 out of 5]

These poems explore intimacy, culture, non-binary eroticism, and the sort of between spaces that intrigue readers. We enjoyed the way they showcased the speaker’s identity as a queer, non-binary, mixed-race Filipinx, and neurodivergent individual and were drawn to all three sections of this book. To hear more about the author's poems and craft, as well as enjoy a reading of several poems from this book, have a listen to our Booktails literary podcast dedicated to this collection. Check out the episode here: https://www.hotredheadmedia.com/bookt...

[Jendi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The queer erotic poems in this collection were my favorite, how our narrator flirts with the dangerously un-aware macho men who can never understand the complexity of the narrator's desire and submission. Illegibility is a kind of power when the world's categories are dumb and confining. The voice sometimes felt not fully mature to me, particularly in the first part of the book.

[Olivia Lovell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read as part of an assignment in my creative writing class and absolutely fell in love. Compelling, raw, and extremely beautiful. Each poem left me excited to read the next page, but afraid to turn it and miss out on rereading it again. All in all, an enchanting book.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a raw and open collection. Putney holds nothing back. This is an honest and true look at identity - gender, sexual, cultural. It is as heartbreaking as it is hopeful.