The Bones of the House Is Good
Poems by Andy Edge
A transition, in plain sight. A man begins to transition at 43, inside a long marriage, and keeps paying the bills. Poems about jeans with deep pockets, eleven months of insurance appeals, a neighbor with angry flags who still jumps his truck in the snow, and a husband who stays.
Cover coming soon
“Look what all I can fit.”
from “Pockets”
“Hard to put a number on twenty years of somebody else’s clothes.”
from “Final Sale”
“…some days, it’s almost like hope, if you squint at it in the right light.”
from “Some Days”
Keeping the lights on
Transitioning at 43 brings a man as much grief as it does joy. There is relief in it, and a giddy pride over something as small as a pair of jeans with deep pockets. There is exhaustion too, from eleven months of fighting his insurance company and being forced to ask permission to be himself. He mourns the person he used to be and is also glad to be rid of them at the same time, sometimes in the same afternoon. There is the surprise of being cared for by people he never counted on, like the neighbor who disagrees with nearly everything about him but still comes over to jump his truck when it snows. And under all of it is a stubborn tenderness for the life he already has and the new one he is making.
The Bones of the House Is Good is a warm, funny, and plainspoken book about change at an age when people expect you to be settled. It is honest about how much a body can be remade while the man inside it stays who he always was. It is a book for anyone who has had to become themselves in plain sight, and keep the lights on while doing it.
DedicationFor the previous owner.
The bones were always good.
Content note: these poems deal with gender dysphoria, medical transition, and everyday transphobia, including misgendering and invasive questions.
- TitleThe Bones of the House Is Good
- AuthorAndy Edge
- GenrePoetry
- PublisherInk & Ribbon Press
- PublicationDate to be announced
- FormatPaperback, limited edition
- ISBNTBA
- PriceTBA
Five sections, one ordinary life.
A single short poem, “The Mirror,” opens the book. Then the poems move through five sections, from the first fitting room to the days that don’t resolve.
The Wrong Size
A dentist’s waiting room, a fitting room, five black bags of dresses at the thrift store, and the first pair of men’s jeans with real pockets.
Alterations
A bank teller, a pharmacy counter, a courtroom, a motel pool, a stick-shift Ford Ranger, and a surgery code he knows by heart.
Other People
A husband who stays, a best friend who is still processing, a girls’ weekend at the cabin, and a nephew who gets his name right first.
Don’t You Think
An office Christmas party, a coworker at lunch, a cousin who forwards every headline, and a coffee shop where he can’t find himself in anyone’s story.
Some Days
Being called buddy, the nod men give each other, a cut on the jaw he wants to tell somebody about. Hard days too, and an ending that comes close to hope.
Three poems from the manuscript.
Pockets
The first time he puts on men’s jeans he finds the pockets, and fills them for no reason but that he can.
Insurance
Three denials, a woman named Terri, and a surgery code he knows by heart. Eleven months later, a letter that says congratulations.
Aisle Five
The men’s deodorant aisle is an education. One brand is called Wolfthorn, which he’s pretty sure isn’t a plant.
Poems and stories.
Andy Edge
A date is coming.
The Bones of the House Is Good will be published by Ink & Ribbon Press in a limited edition. Follow The Inkwell, the press’s Substack, for the publication date, pre-order news, and events with Andy.