There’s Magic Here Too: A Trans Woman’s Guide to Being Monstrous (PDF)
Trolls, fairies, zombies, kelpies, mermaids, sirens, witches, and other marvellous beasts run rampage through Skylar Kay’s much-anticipated second collection of poetry. The contemporary fairytales in There’s Magic Here Too: A Trans Woman’s Guide to Being Monstrous celebrate radical self-reclamation and transformative power. From the stark cul-de-sacs of Calgary’s suburbs to the surreal liminality of Windsor’s riverbanks, Kay’s menagerie of shapeshifters refigures the image of monstrous queers and trans identities. There’s Magic Here Too moves across borders between stories, memory, bodies, and the neon-lit edges of identity, all in search of a home.
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Additional information
| Page Count | 60 |
|---|---|
| Year Published | 2025 |
Skylar Kay
Skylar Kay is an Alberta-based poet and grad school dropout. Since releasing her debut collection, Transcribing Moonlight (Frontenac House 2022), she has moved back home to Calgary where she looks for the magic in everyday life. Her debut collection was well-received, earning a shortlist nod for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for Poetry, and won the BPAA’s Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry. These days, she likes baking muffins, tolerating her cat, and reading as much poetry as possible.
On the Beauty of Water
Approaching the river
as the sun rises
light scatters over my body
these waves
a warmth on my skin
a pale glow      so much like
the Sopranos’ intro
though there aren’t any ducks awake yet
to eat the breadcrumb trail I leave
stretching from Sirens’ home
to the airport to
that quiet Calgary suburb
and in the middle my body
these waves
I still can’t tell which way they flow
but I no longer fight it.
I sit among the Art Gardens
listening
for what feels like the first time
to the ambiguity of the waves.