Falling Back in Love with Being Human: Letters to Lost Souls

This is a book multiple booksta friends told me I would love (mostly Laura), and of course they were right. I mean, just the whole concept! The book is a collection of love letters. To those who have died. To social justice warriors. To those who contemplate suicide. But also to those who have hurt her. To TERFS. To J.K. Rowling specifically. Because as Thom says, "a monster is a part of ourselves that we don't want to find in the mirror. a part of ourselves we try to cut out and split off and put inside other people so that they can carry it for us: our fear, our shame." Finding and writing love for all these people is a way for finding love for herself.

Interspersed between each letter is a suggestion for healing. Spend 24 hours by show more yourself. Think of someone you want to punish. If it's safe, send them a book of poetry instead. This isn't exactly poetry, but it isn't exactly not, and it would work well for that purpose. show less

Wow, oh wow! I expected this to be a powerful read, but I wasn’t prepared for how deeply moving it would be. Kai Cheng Thom’s audiobook performance of FALLING BACK IN LOVE WITH BEING HUMAN: LETTERS TO LOST SOULS was absolutely amazing! I cried several times and was ready to replay it as soon as it finished. I loved the format she chose of mixing letters, poetry, prayer, and prompts for the reader. Rage and grief are present but so are hope and healing. I’ll be getting a print copy as soon as possible. This is a book I definitely want to revisit. All the stars! There aren’t enough stars for this one.

This is a collection of poetry and self care written by Kai Cheng Thom, a Chinese diaspora non-binary trans woman who self identifies as a writer, performance artist, and community healer in Toronto.

Falling Back in Love with Being Human is a collection of poetry/essays. My library received this book in January when it came out and I picked it up on a whim a few days ago. I am trying to be more intentional in choosing diverse authors who represent voices I don’t hear from often enough. This was a beautiful, approachable, volume and didn’t leave me feeling like I’m not smart enough to understand poetry. I often feel that way when reading poetry, which I don’t fault the poets for necessary, I just don’t think we are exposed to show more enough poetry and school teaches us that the only way to engage with it, is to pull it apart and examine it like a medical examiner doing an autopsy.

These texts were lovely and honest. And I’m trying to describe them so that you’ll understand and want to read them too. Here again, my poetry education is failing me I think. I was touched by the haunting ones written to those who have passed away or who struggle in loneliness and depression. Letters to queer and trans ancestors, gone too soon. And it hurts and makes me angry to think of all we lost in history and queer elders because of the AIDS epidemic and because of violence against trans folks. We were denied access to all that wisdom and experience.

Read this one. It’s wonderful. show less

4.75 stars rounded up for a few really standout pieces. Definitely a highlight heavy read. The flow and imagery were visceral. A little cheese ball with some of the actions but it never took away from the overall feel. And maybe Im just a bit of a cynic on that.

2.5
This book is a very personal poetry collection, clearly from the deep heart of the author. I felt that most of the words did not really resonate with me specifically, though I am sure they have and do with others.