“In Scream / Queen, CD Eskilson unravels the ciphers of the celluloid closet, using horror as a lens and entry point into poems mapping transness, chronic illness, and familial trauma. These whip-smart, funny, tender, and lyrically inventive poems both pay homage to and critique horror, unwilling to overlook the genre's entanglement in ongoing moral panics surrounding transness. Though Eskilson stakes the claim that 'So much language,' the very building blocks of their craft, 'is a hunting ground,' and though this collection orbits a series of personal and historical violences, the beating heart at the core of Eskilson's poems is love—for the self, their community, family, partner, and for the genre of horror itself.”

torrin a. greathouse, author of "Wound from the Mouth of a Wound" and "DEED"

“As preluded by the title of their gorgeously written book, CD Eskilson’s Scream / Queen conjures the throaty power of poetry in defiance of 'cruelty made quiet.' With deft formal innovation, these tremendous poems are aimed with command and compassion at the realities and the myths that would refuse trans love and liberation, forging new sacred possibilities from their sonic wakes, resolving to claim all the joy owed. As Eskilson says it, ‘I lick my lips, // I kiss the moon: it took so long / to get here.’ Amen.”

Geffrey Davis, author of "Night Angler" and "One Wild Word Away"

“If you’ve survived the unsurvivable, is that enough? Are you also allowed joy, pleasure, contentment even? How much? Scream / Queen dances in the impossible tension of creating a new life while reparenting our current and younger selves. Eskilson’s poems scream in their pauses, silences, surprising variations of form, and sharply-forged verbs. Obstacle after obstacle, from external harm to the ghosts of harm that are intrusive thoughts, the voices of Scream / Queen are languaging their attempts to live in unforgettable sound.”

K. Iver, author of "Short Film Starring My Beloved’s Red Bronco"