Rachel Wiley

Rachel Wiley, an author who holds many intersecting identities has written Fat Girl Finishing School as a love letter to her living body. When confronted with fatphobia, racism, misogyny, and shame each poem chooses self love, despite society's expectations of conformity. More than just a book about one single identity Fat Girl Finishing School makes intersectionality dimensional. This is a book steeped in experience, every story is striking, powerful, and unmistakably palpable.

Fat Girl Finishing School

Amanda Rocha

Fat Girl Finishing School is the first full-length collection of poems from Rachel Wiley, the Queer-Biracial-Feminist poet, performer and body-positive activist whose work spans from body image, to love and loss, and feminism. Fat Girl Finishing School is a love letter to the body. When confronted with fatphobia, sexism, misogyny, and shame each poem chooses self-love, despite society’s expectations. This is a book steeped in experience, every story is striking, powerful, and unmistakably palpable.

Fat Girl Finishing School - Button Poetry
I can very much relate to this book. Unfortunately, eating disorders and anxiety are very real issues that are really hard to talk about and tackle, but this book did a great job of it. As a woman who deals with many of these issues every day, many of these verses resonated with me deeply.

Wiley’s poems create a striking and very real commentary on important issues in our society. But this collection of poems covers much more than just eating disorders―gender, race, and faith are just a few of the various themes these poems touch on. 

Some of the best poems in the collection are the most difficult to read. Shutter calls out selfie culture while Gorgon calls out the fashion industry, and Wife Material provides a grand commentary on stereotypes within the home.

Brass Knuckles is an ode to feminist activism: “We are not done yet.” These poems force us to face reality for what it is, showing us exactly why the world makes us feel less-than on a daily basis, and why we can not stand for it. Wiley has a wonderfully simple way of expressing politics through poetry; identifying the problem and rejecting it. “We are meeting the horizon line to tell it our demands."

The Love Letter To My Body poems are some of my favorites in the collection. These poems know what it feels like to be judged, and what it takes to rise above. Instead of showing us what is wrong with the world, these poems show us what is right within ourselves. They tell the reader it is okay to accept yourself as you are. Full of acceptance and confidence, they proclaim you are worthy. You are enough. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Button Poetry publishers for providing a free ARC!

https://thewandererliteraryjournal.wo...

Alexa Jade

"My excuse is my body needs no excuse to be loved,
No excuse to be seen,
No excuse to be touched, enjoyed, celebrated."

Oh this was intersectional AF and I loveeeeeeed it omfggggggg. I loveeeee Rachel's discussions on being fat, queer & mixed all at once and how she has enough privilege to be just fine in certain situations.

I love how blunt Rachel is. She said things with her whole chest. She's unapologetically queer, fat and bi-racial and it really shows in her pieces.

Shannon O’Connor 

It was okay, there were some poems i really liked and others i really didn’t like. I went back and forth with my opinion so it was very eh to me.

Fat Girl Finishing School

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