"A beautiful book of poetry following one human's journey towards themselves, illuminating gender identity and the culture that surrounds us all-insightful and inspiring!"

"Funny and surprising, a real gem."

"The poems found in I Can Tell You the Version That Will Make You Take My Side are as intentional and full-bodied as the poet who penned them. J Brooke is a truth-teller with a gift for precise storytelling who walks the reader through the dark and light spaces of a life evolving, becoming anew."

"J Brooke's I Can Tell You the Version That Will Make You Take My Side is a book of rare courage-one that refuses performance, explanation, or any version that might win easy sympathy. Instead, these poems stand in the full, contradictory glare of memory and body, and say: I am here, I will not simplify what I carry. What lingers isn't a neat resolution but the stubborn dignity of survival-the daily, unspectacular ache of choosing to live honestly, with humor and care, even when the world demands a tidier answer. This is a collection that trusts the reader with what is unfinished and unfixable, and in doing so, offers something like hope-hope that we, too, might live inside our own contradictions and be seen."