Tgirl.JPG

Roof Books is proud to present the debut poetry collection of an exciting emerging talent, Sol Cabrini, whose work as an indie rapper under the moniker Sol Patches has already established her as a fierce and fearless artist in the vein of Mykki Blanco, Le1f, and Kevin Abstract, among others.

TGIRL.JPG is a complex verse collection following a Black transgender woman's life over a decade, from teenage years to adulthood, from Chicago to New York, with hefty philosophical and existential quandaries expressed in the same dynamic, catchy, heartfelt, and challenging voice found in her music. Cabrini's hip-hop background is fundamentally intertwined through her poetics, with poems transforming into songs and back again, aided by a series of QR codes that make the reader a listener and invite them into a tapestry of interactive word and sound. This dynamic assortment of poetry, diaries, letters, and songs will take you on a strange journey from innocence to experience, exploring the intricate relationship between self-discovery, social involvement with the world, and personal development--from the perspective of a trans Woman of Color. Cabrini tells a contemporary story of resilience and struggle, reckoning with lineages while forging ahead into an avant-garde realm of Afro-Surrealism and racial intersectionality. TGIRL.JPG is as powerful as it is fun. Discover a new favorite experimentalist in the fascinating Sol Cabrini.

"Cabrini's Chicago, Midwest existentialism, does not relent in the tender love and affection with which it holds you, asking, 'What worlds are possible?' Poets often actualize the future, presently, for us again, and again, usually through exposing the wretchedness of the world. Peering in, we find ourselves. That transformative cut through the mundane is left open to bear the scrutiny of others and fester, but not here. Cabrini reminds us that the gaze doesn't have to dissect but can be a kiss impressed upon that scar; a note from our future self to recall that .jpg we downloaded some time ago referencing how we might be. Each wretched now ratchet song and dance transitions across these scenic worlds. Cabrini offers up a guide to curating our edits to our world, instigating a worlding in us. A future, perfect, that does not reference the completion of some act, in the meantime leaving us alone, but locates in the coming moments the very question, the object of that proposition being one's self. A world surging up in one's self, over generations. The text calls for our ever transitioning formation, playfully resounding in the dark."--Victor Peterson II

Poetry. Music. LGBTQ+ Studies.