Transcribing Moonlight

by Skylar Kay

Transcribing Moonlight is a collection of autobiographical haibun which outlines the life of a trans woman from December 2018 to December 2019. The form of the journal itself is traditional for haibun; while experimental at times, the haibun pay attention to the physical world and are therefore able to capture the changing seasons, moons, and phases of the narrator’s life. As the title may suggest, the moon is a point of focus for the collection, as the phases of the moon often match up and echo the phases and transitions of the narrator. In this way, the traditional trope of the moon and the traditional form of haibun become more nuanced and modern, as they represent a marginalized group and some of the struggles that trans women face, both externally and internally. These phases and struggles include gender (eu/dys)phoria, coming to terms with sexuality, life after graduation, relationships, and family issues.

Genres: Poetry

71 pages, Paperback

Published April 28, 2022

Reviews

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met Skylar Kay in passing at a few poetry events in Calgary. Eventually we actually spoke to each other and I started to learn more about her, including that she wrote a collection of haibun called "Transcribing Moonlight." I requested that the next time we met, she bring me a copy for purchase, and she did! With a lovely personalization and autograph to boot. Thank you, Skylar!

Now to the work itself: the writing is unique, charged, and deeply personal. It is an intensely emotional experience. It provided me with a delicate and beautiful foundation of understanding for what it means to be a trans woman. It showed me insecurities, strengthening chapters, and affirmation. Each moment captured is reflected in the light of the moon; a cycle that symbolizes both rebirth and maintaining enough resilience to continue to grow until whole.

This collection is an intimate presentation of Skylar's revelatory experiences. There is so much beauty to be found in her expressive and fortifying art. I cannot recommend this enough.

[Tyler Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Transcribing Moonlight, Skylar Kay brings readers on a year-long journal of haibun poems that explore the internal experiences of her journey of transitioning into physical womanhood—the struggles, but also the joys and the beauty of being and becoming fully alive in the world. Readers who seek to better understand the experiences lived by a person in transition will benefit from these gentle poetic lessons in compassion, and all readers will be lulled in by the beauty of the haibun (prose/haiku) form, and the thoughtful observations of the moon and the world as it transitions through the seasons. This book is about self-discovery and belonging in the world, and in that sense it reflects the universal experience of learning, questioning, unlearning, and relearning what it means to be human. Also, the illustrations are beautiful.

[Lisa Nikolits · Rating 5 out of 5]

Apart from the beauty of the poems, the swift, unexpected zoom lens on otherwise unremarkable moments captures, with wry humour and deft self-deprecation, the struggles of being trans. This collection is light-bulb reading for anyone who, with misguided well intentions, believed they understood what it is to be trans. I learned so much and I learned there is so much I’ll never know. This book is a keeper.

[Skylar Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a bit biased, but I think it's a pretty rad book