Spilling the Light

The light must spill to shine. The thing you must be is yourself.

Intimate and uncompromising, Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto’s debut collection Spilling the Light, is a luminous offering to their communities and a defiant declaration of their worth in a world hostile to their queer, disabled, and brown being.

“America, is this freedom?” they ask. “I cannot prove to you that / I am a person,” writing boldly of identity, community, liberation, and erasure through a prism of tender moments and powerful reckonings. These are poems of broken hallelujahs and codes/witching, of hunger and fire, of hope and resilience. They are complex, tender, and empowering. They embolden us to become our truest selves, willing us to survive.

List of contents

Spilling the light

Holy Quiet

This cannot be enough America for me

i have tried to write this three times

A Simple Hope

We offer you an imperfect welcome

Snowflakes: A Guide

Taraxacum

Let my life be forward-reaching

Finding Our Dreams

Let us say to our hearts

A Charm for Hope: A String

being universalist is like

But Why This, Why Now

Blessed Are the Hungry

Am I meant to call up courage?

dear trans*, non-binary, genderqueer and gender-expansive friends and kin: (and those of us whose gender is survival)

The Magic of an Empty Palm

To the people who have mistaken freedom for liberation

Neither divisor nor dividend

The Spark Between

The Wonder of a Fist

everything is still on fire

I cannot prove to you that I am/we are human

Showing up for (F)friend(s)

Being a person of color in America today

Bring your broken hallelujah here

We Hold Hope Close

Prevail: an etymology

There are lots of ways to stay alive

The Elephant in the Room, Every Single Room

The Advice

Notes on a Napkin (White Supremacy)

Boldly, you must hang your light

My grandmother’s grinding stone/El molcajete de mi abuelita

The part that is not water

When your best friend has four or so legs

Codes/witching

We Hold On

The Name of Tyranny

Where Life Sends You

Mitochondrial Gift

Broken Shellsong

Survivor/ship

Remembering the future

Time for the Work

Reversals of Fortune

the butterfly effect

A Rock in Our Pocket

The Life Slow and Precious

America, is this freedom?

Siete principios de unitario universalista, bueno, más el primero

You are not wrong

Stretch

When There Is No Happy Ending

About the author

Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto (formerly Theresa) is a Unitarian Universalist minister and activist. They have worked in parish ministry, interim ministry, and hospital chaplaincy with veterans. Soto lives in the Pacific Northwest and seeks to serve the mission and values of Unitarian Universalism, along with the healing of the world.

Summary

The light must spill to shine. The thing you must be is yourself.

Intimate and uncompromising, Rev. Julián Jamaica, Soto’s debut collection Spilling the Light, is a luminous offering to their communities and a defiant declaration of their worth in a world hostile to their queer, disabled, and brown being.

“America, is this freedom?” they ask. “I cannot prove to you that / I am a person,” writing boldly of identity, community, liberation, and erasure through a prism of tender moments and powerful reckonings. These are poems of broken hallelujahs and codes/witching, of hunger and fire, of hope and resilience. They are complex, tender, and empowering. They embolden us to become our truest selves, willing us to survive.

Foreword

• Early reviewer promotion through advance copies to encourage reader reviews and generate buzz.



• National review outreach to trade and print publications (PW, Kirkus, Booklist, Library Journal, Foreword, New York Times) and online (Spirituality & Practice, Book Riot)



• Social media campaign featuring video content and images with blurbs and reviews of the book as well as designed graphics of select poems on publisher’s Twitter feed (@skinnerhouse), Instagram page (@skinnerhouse), Facebook page (/skinnerhouse), Tumblr page (@skinnerhousebooks), and Pinterest (@skinnerhousebks)



• Advertising in print publications (full page ad in April Issue of Poets & Writers and featured in the spring Great Reads section in Sojourners) and online (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Sojo mail)



• Promotion during National Poetry Month, Pride Month, Disability Pride Month, and more.

Product details

• Authors: Julián Jamaica Soto
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 02.04.2024, delayed
• EAN: 9781558969186
• ISBN: 978-1-55896-918-6
• No. of pages: 96
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Healing / Prayer & Spiritual, POETRY / LGBTQ+, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Religious, POETRY / Subjects & Themes / Motivational & Inspirational