Treason Cantos: Poems 2014-2017

By Catherine B. Krause

Rejected by family and many friends for coming out as transgender, Catherine B. Krause found herself working for food and rent in 2014. By early 2015 she was sleeping on the sidewalk and taking whatever work she could while she began to explore surrealist poetic techniques and the political ideology behind these. In mid-2015 she got off the street and began to write about what had happened.

"Best book I've read in ages." — Sappho, Lesbian lyric poet

"Terrible." — Ezra Pound, alt-right provocateur

"Meow." — Salem, roommate of Catherine

• Language: English
• Publisher: Treason Foundation Press
• Release date: Jan 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370177745

Catherine B. Krause

Catherine B. Krause is a queer, transgender, and neurodivergent poet whose work has appeared in Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Gargoyle, The Opiate, and Rabbit Ears: TV Poems (NYQ Books 2015), among other places. Because none of these publishers demand exclusive rights to the poems, Catherine releases every one of her published poems into the public domain using the CC Zero dedication. Occasionally Catherine also writes prose, which is covered by the same public domain dedication.

Book preview

April

Originally published at Red Booth Review

The next day is always hard,

remembering chocolate pie

and the poem's meaning,

trying not to lose your gifts:

a birthday suit extension,

a new morning gown,

a top-heavy woman's top,

lukewarm coffee,

cut your hand shaving.

The computer is a tool

bred out from the earth

for higher purposes than

using the desire to lose.

baseball on the radio

Originally published at Uut Poetry

yesterday baseball was on the radio

but i hate baseball games they annoy me so much

the announcers and the crowd and the static

so i went to turn it off but it was already off

and the game was still playing

why don't you make the most of it asked one of the elves

buy yourself a hot dog but i couldn't do it

hot dogs are people

The Bible as a Feminist-Friendly Boyfriend

Originally published at Uut Poetry

I consider myself a feminist he says,

holding the door and pulling my chair out.

We all know I'm the one who has to ask you

for what you have to give me. But don't give it up tonight,

respect yourself. You'll give me plenty when we're married.

I'd like to work all day for you and let you stay at home,

with only some chores to do and some children to raise,

so you'll never have to worry about important things,

because you're a treasure, because you're special.

I want to give you everything you desire, he says:

nice dresses, respectable ones, not too slutty

because I don't want anyone's eyes on you,

sewing needles, the most delicious food to cook,

a selection of lingerie that I think you would really love

to wear around me, and a son named after me.

You'll be a queen in my house, I'll be the king,

and we will be partners in the covenant of the Lord,

listening equally to what He wants each of us to do.

casualties

Originally published in Fusion: Ohio's Advocate for LGBT Issues

we were both starting hormones

then you were dead

you're better than the world that survived you

you shouldn't have let it get to you

you should've given it time

i'm a lot happier now

but you're not

we've all grown up and gotten better

but you haven't

and we need you as much as ever

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