I DECIDED TO take a chance on this after reading a couple of Weinstein’s poems in Conjunctions. He is “a trans/crip poet, essayist, and photographer,” according to the note on the back cover of Saint Consequence, and the poem “Cut” (which appeared in Conjunctions and also appears here) is the most arresting poem I have ever read about a gender transition.
Quite a few of the other poems likewise take on trans identity and experience, but the collection also has poems based on Weinstein’s year in Tomsk, a city in Siberia, and “Brother,” a very affecting sequence about his brother, who apparently lives with a cognitive disability. Weinstein’s own disability (that is, his own self-claimed status as “crip”) may be reflected in another sequence, “Crip Album,” although the sequence is mainly quick, imagistic poems about others.
Weinstein’s handling of the sequence form is a strength. Besides “Brother” and “Crip Album,” the collection includes a sequence about Weinstein’s time in Russia, “Street of the Friendship of Nations.” He has a talent for using the sequence providing multiple perspectives on a phenomenon, shifting temporally and tonally while still creating a unified effect.
I was also struck by two longer poems, “The Center” and “Anniversary,” because they suggested the influence of Jorie Graham. This likeness may have occurred to me only because I have been immersed in Graham lately, but in making a case I would note these two poems' longer lines (Alice James Books printed these poems on the vertical axis, so you have to rotate the book ninety degrees to read them), their presenting of personal experience while simultaneously mindful of one’s historical situation, and their ambition—that is, a willingness to swing for the fences. A big swing can mean a big whiff, but Weinstein connects.
