Tucson Poet Laureate TC Tolbert will headline Pima County Public Library’s upcoming Pride Author Talk on Saturday, Oct. 25, sharing original poems and reflections on creativity, connection and queer joy as part of the library’s ongoing celebration of LGBTQ+ voices.

Tolbert, who was named Tucson’s poet laureate in March 2017, will share his poems at Murphy-Wilmot Library from 3 to 4:30 p.m. A poet laureate acts as an ambassador for the literary arts, promoting community spirit and fostering a national appreciation for Tucson’s poetic experience.

For Tolbert, poetry is not just something for people to read, but an experience to live.

“I think of a poem as a place where we can go and practice connecting things that seem disparate or like, they're not like each other,” Tolbert told Tucson Spotlight. “That's kind of a cool way to think about metaphor and things like that. If we practice that on the page, then we can hopefully start to live it in real life.”

One of the ways he tries to accomplish this is by trying new things, opening himself to new experiences and constantly interacting with the world around him, including through teaching.

“Any teacher will tell you, when you are in the classroom, you are constantly learning from your students,” Tolbert said.

He brings that same energy into his artistic work. During COVID-19, he was laid off from his teaching job at the University of Arizona and began learning how to build houses. By the end of the pandemic, he had helped create housing for transgender women of color through a nonprofit called The Outlaw Project.

“I don't really know what I'm doing, but I'm really committed to learning and committed to asking for help and collaboration and things like that,” Tolbert said.

He connects this philosophy to smaller experiences, like saying hello to strangers at the grocery store and always being willing to find small, meaningful human connections.

When it comes to his poetry readings, Tolbert says every event is different. He’s not one to simply sit in front of an audience and read; he always adds creative and personal elements.

“I like for readings to be dynamic and interactive and to always have some element of co-creation,” Tolbert said. “I want there to be a real interaction, and at least a momentary relationship.”

He says each event is shaped by who attends, what they say and how he learns from the audience. He likens it to curating an experience.

Tolbert said he was flattered and honored to be asked to do the Pride reading, and as someone who has attended previous Pride Author Talks, he feels extremely humbled.

“Anytime someone says to me, ‘Hey, we've heard of your poems,’ or, ‘We like your poems,’ or, ‘We want you to come talk to us or read,’ I'm amazed, you know?” he said. “It's incredible that anyone would reach out to anyone else and say, ‘Hey, will you come share your thoughts and your creative work with me?’”

Amid what Tolbert called the rise in painful rhetoric and policy toward queer people, particularly transgender youth, he said it feels important to embrace the joy of these spaces.

“I take the importance of it, but I also take it with, hopefully, a lot of joy, because it feels like a really joyful and a little bit of a dream space,” Tolbert said. “I just want to create a space where I can say, ‘We celebrate you.’ We celebrate your becoming, we celebrate your vision for your lives, and you know, we want to make space for that.”

When discussing today’s political climate for queer people, Tolbert speaks as someone who has lived through both the highs and lows of queer history and offers reassurance that, in time, the tide will turn.

Oct. 21 marked Tolbert's “testosoversary,” celebrating 19 years of being on testosterone therapy. He came out five years before that, calling the anniversary his second birthday.

Tolbert is originally from Tennessee, which he said is a difficult place place for queer people.

“I’ve, at this point, sort of lived long enough and in enough places to see a couple of little changes where things are looking real bad and not going well at all, and then things seem to be getting better,” Tolbert said.

As an older queer trans person, Tolbert urges others, especially young people, to hold on to hope and continue fighting for a better future.

“I really do believe in us and our ability to dream and create a better world together,” Tolbert said. “I know we are capable of this, and certainly as older, queer and trans folks, we owe this to youth to keep holding that vision open.”

Carrying that message of hope into action, Tolbert invited the community to gather Saturday to celebrate LGBTQ+ voices in literature.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime event with a group of strangers, and maybe people you will know or come to know, that really can kick open a door that you didn't even realize was closed, and sometimes we don't realize that until something sort of magical happens,” Tolbert said. “My hope is that we come together for a little bit of magic.”

Emma LaPointe is a journalism, political science and German Studies major at the University of Arizona and Tucson Spotlight intern. Contact her at emma.m.lapointe@gmail.com.

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