Robert Poems

A speculative poetic history reimagining Robert Blake, the brother of the celebrated poet William Blake, as a trans man in the 18th century.Blending deeply researched historical details with the author’s personal experiences, The Robert Poems playfully and critically imagines a trans literary archive during a period in which transness, as we know it today, is not always readily visible. Robert Blake was a ghostly figure that often visited his brother, William, after Robert’s untimely death at the age of 25—the same age S. Yarberry was when they began their medical transition. This happenstance of transitions, medical and metaphysical, drove Yarberry through a series of poetic explorations culminating in a collection with one question beating at its heart: what if trans history could be built on abundance, rather than scarcity? For fans of Jordy Rosenberg’s Confessions of the Fox and Ruth Padel’s Darwin, The Robert Poems provides a lush landscape for Robert to thrive within, offering a new wellspring for trans pasts and a springboard from which to imagine inventive, expansive trans futures.