Miles Walser

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Miles Walser is a twenty-two year old award-winning white middle-class American poet whose writing touches upon issues of gender binary, dichotomies, race, transgender themes such as hate crimes and transphobia, as well as family. Many of his poems have autobiographical themes. He has two younger sisters, Anna and Caroline,[1] and he is originally from Madison, Wisconsin.[2] Walser is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and he has a Bachelor's degree in Individualized Studies in English, Social Justice, and Youth Studies.[3] He currently lives in Brooklyn with a cat as company.[4]

Walser has a history of slam poetry. He won the title of best male poet in 2010 at the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational, and placed 3rd in with his team in the group section. He has also represented Minneapolis, Minnesota and Madison, Wisconsin, his home town, on national level slam poetry competitions, and in 2012 he was awarded Best Poem by Male Poet when he competeted in the Wade-Lewis Poetry Slam Competition.[5] Walser's poetry has been published in several literary journals including The Legendary, Used Furniture Review, Radius and the Bakery.[6] His poetry is available online. He also tours and performs poetry at regular intervals.

Walser has said that although he has been writing poetry since he was six years old, performing still makes him nervous. He sees poetry as significant because it is universal as well as personal, giving each person something different.[7]

What the Night Demands

Walser's first collection of poetry, What the Night Demands was published by Write Bloody Publishing in April 2013. The book concentrates on transgender issues and actively works to deconstruct the binary of gender by acknowledging the opposites that exist inside the narrators of the poems. Walser also tackles other transgender issues such as hate crimes and the hierarchy that exist within the trans* community. Nebraska, perhaps his most famous poem, refers to Brandon Teena, the real fear of physical violence many trans* people face every day, and the way trans* people only ever become visible once they are murdered and their lives become a tabloid material.[8] Hierarchy of Trans-Ness at the High School Youth Queer Mixer points out the categories different trans* people are put into and how easily certain kinds of people, in this case feminine transwomen, become targets of bullying. Many of Walser's poems reflect on the every day lives of trans* people in situations were being trans* becomes an issue. The Man I Am Tries to Take the Girl I Was Through Airport Security being an example of this as the narrator of the poem tries to walk through airport security in a situation where his body and passport don't entirely match the normative understanding of a persons gender.[9]

What the Night Demands has been praised for its honest and refreshingly new portrayal of trans* issues as well as the relationship to the body that is brought forth in the poems.[10]

Works

What the Night Demands (2013; ISBN 978-1-938912-16-0)

References

  1. ↑ Walser, Miles (2013). What the Night Demands. Write Bloody Publishing. pp. 43, 58. ISBN 978-1-938912-16-0. 
  2. ↑ Walser, Miles (2013). What the Night Demands. Write Bloody Publishing. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-938912-16-0. 
  3. ↑ The Bakery http://www.thebakerypoetry.com/tag/miles-walser/ |url= missing title (help). Retrieved 6 November 2013. 
  4. ↑ Walser, Miles (2013). What the Night Demands. Write Bloody Publishing. p. 75. ISBN 978-1-938912-16-0. 
  5. ↑ The Bakery http://www.thebakerypoetry.com/tag/miles-walser/ |url= missing title (help). Retrieved 6 November 2013. 
  6. ↑ . Miles Walser http://www.mileswalser.com/. Retrieved 6 November 2013.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ Lacatos, Mercedes. "Waxing Poetica with Miles Walser". The Berkley Beacon. Retrieved 9 November 2013. 
  8. ↑ Walser, Miles (2013). What the Night Demands. Write Bloody Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-938912-16-0. 
  9. ↑ Walser, Miles (2013). What the Night Demands. Write Bloody Publishing. p. 68. ISBN 978-1-938912-16-0. 
  10. ↑ Smith, Danez. http://www.mileswalser.com/. Retrieved 6 November 2013.  Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links

Official Website: http://www.mileswalser.com/ Official Tumblr blog: http://mileswalser.tumblr.com/ Walser on Write Bloody: http://writebloody.com/shop/products/what-the-night-demands/ Nebraska on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6NCWZ3vY1o

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