New Swedish Books, Spring 2018 1
39 Spring 2018 Icon “We are guiltless, let us cas
t the first stone.” The spoken word poet Yolanda Aurora Bohm Ramirez is skilled in the art of compressing volumes of lived experience into poems that pack a punch. In a lexical balancing act Bohm Ramirez paints icons of their loved ones and their dead, as well as portraits of themselves as a daughter, activist and cyborg. Their love of all things nerdy is betrayed by poems such as “Galaxian Boss Galaga”, “Deceptacon” and “Ms. Pacman”, where synthetic life forms become relatable role models: “Don’t call me a trans person, I’m a Transformer: more than meets the eye.” A rebellious poetic work about love and uproar, inspiring readers with its belief in the ability of words to change our lives. “ Don’t call me a trans person, I’m a Transformer: more than meets the eye.” Yolanda Aurora Bohm Ramirez (b. 1987) Icon Publisher Brombergs www.brombergs.se Yolanda Aurora Bohm Ramirez is a speaker, activist and spoken word poet. Icon is their first book. Rights Brombergs casia.bromberg@brombergs.se Photo: Casia Bromberg