She Rotates with Pluto

This anthology is an overarching story about finding a place in the universe and enduring through a journey of self-acceptance, self-love, and a sense of purpose. Each work in this book expresses what Joss had felt at different periods of her life and the changes in her values, beliefs, perspectives, and personality traits from childhood to adulthood. She accompanies each entry with a glimpse of what it is like to have misophonia and depression and be a transgender woman of color as she recounts what it means to rotate with Pluto. “The thing is, I’m flying… to seek shelter on Pluto. The planet is small, but Her heart is big; it ensures there’s a space for every lonely, daydreaming soul, embracing us with hugs that outstretch to become our own little celestial heaven. When we’re ready, loved, empowered, we return to Earth headstrong.” “Keep rotating in the right direction and don’t look back at your previous gravitational orbits. They don’t matter.” “Google an image of Pluto and you’ll find a gaseous ball with a heart–a heart imprinted on the geographic landscape… Her semblance of love, inclusion, and recognition bleeds true in Her geography.” “Transgender. Multi-ethnic. Mentally ill. Each of these terms arouses much controversy and misunderstanding, similar to the misunderstandings surrounding Pluto, yet I’m still alive and active, presenting myself to the world that I’m here for a purpose, that I’m going to somehow change this world for the better. Pluto is isolated and so was I when I wrote this poem. I was my weakest self and since I didn’t love myself, I believed I couldn’t follow my dreams. Not when I was restricted, self-deprecatory, and lonely.”