Bodies in Transition

Bodies in Transition is a collection of poems about the transition of spaces and bodies. Capturing memories as early as childhood, G. Gazelka covers fundamental periods of development in their queer and trans identity and reckoning with social justice. In 2006, their father, at the time a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, introduced a bill to define marriage as between one man and one woman while they were just discovering their queer identity. He sent them to a clinic which has been accused of practicing conversion therapy. Unchanged, their parents kicked them out of the family. They spent 10 years away from their family's home struggling to find systems of support, survive, and become a man. Many of these poems deal with their social and physical transition after they returned to Minnesota in 2017. Due to the issues of legality surround trans identities, one of the poems "Everyone Bleeds" even references how they were sent out of state to North Dakota for a diagnosis of mental illness after speaking to reporters about how they had and were experiencing conversion therapy for their sex and sexual identity. At the forefront of the fight for equality, G. Gazelka believes these poems dealing with discrimination, longing for love, and belonging will resonate with their readers.