Ask a Bookseller: 'Inheritance'

It only takes a few transformative poems to make an entire collection glow. For Nathan McDowell of Two Dollar Radio Headquarters — an indie bookstore and press in Columbus, Ohio — it only took until page nine for Taylor Johnson’s poetry book “Inheritance” to snag his attention and turn him into an enthusiastic supporter. The poem that McDowell loves is called “Consider the Deer,” which begins with a focus on two deer found dead on the side of the road, plays with the word “deer” (both singular and plural), and deftly builds into the plurality the poet contains within himself. If that particular example sounds macabre, McDowell begs to differ. “The strongest tension, to me, with the book,” says McDowell, “is this amazing ability that Taylor can weave in very esoteric, metaphysical, sort of spiritual concerns but also deliver them to you in very rooted language. All of these poems in the collection feel very much ‘of the body.’ There’s a lot of dancing, a lot of joy in just the physicality of life.” Many of the poems focus on trans identity and on recognizing more within oneself than first glance might reveal. Taylor McDowell is the 2022 Poet-in-Residence at the Guggenheim Museum.