In this
trailblazing anthology, more than fifty self-identified sex workers from all
walks of the industry (survival and trade, past and present) explore their lived
experience through the expressive nuance and beauty of poetry. In a variety of
forms ranging from lyrics to list poems to found poetry to hybrid works, these
authors express themselves with the complexity, agency, and honesty that sex
workers are rarely afforded. Contributors from Canada, the US, Europe, and Asia
include Gregory Scofield, Tracy Quan, Summer Wright, and Akira the
Hustler. As an
antidote to the invasive and often biased media depictions of sex workers, Hustling Verse is a fiercely
groundbreaking exploration of intimacy, transactional sex, identity, healing,
and resilience.
Includes a
foreword by Mercedes Eng, whose poetry book Prison Industrial Complex Explodes (Talonbooks) won
the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in 2018.
