Shooting Stars and Origami Swans
Shooting Stars and Origami Swans is an intimate and unflinching collection of poetry about identity, survival, and the long, complicated journey toward becoming oneself. Through deeply personal reflections on her life as a transgender woman, Jessica Jaymes Purdy invites readers into the private spaces of her soul, tracing the path from shame and self-denial to authenticity, self-love, and joy.
Organized into six sections, the collection follows an emotional journey that is anything but linear. In “Unloved,” Purdy confronts rejection, bullying, religious persecution, and the devastating impact of a world that tells her she is unworthy of love. “The Hidden Self” explores the exhausting reality of living behind a mask of masculinity, suppressing her identity to meet societal expectations while struggling to recognize herself in the mirror. Through vivid imagery and vulnerable confessions, these poems illuminate the loneliness, dysphoria, and fear that can accompany a life spent hiding an essential truth.
In “Dreams of Freedom,” the possibility of a different life begins to emerge. Hope challenges fear, and the desire to live authentically grows too powerful to ignore. “A Warrior Born” captures the struggle to claim a long-denied identity, while “Defiance” transforms personal pain into a declaration of self-determination. Here, Purdy refuses to let prejudice, narrow expectations, or other people's discomfort dictate who she is allowed to become.
The collection culminates in “A Joyful Woman,” where the hard-won rewards of authenticity begin to shine through. Dysphoria and uncertainty have not simply vanished, and the scars of the past remain part of her story. Yet they no longer define its ending. In their place, Purdy discovers the beauty of self-recognition, the strength of community, the comfort of acceptance, and the freedom to inhabit her own life with pride.
Both a personal testimony and an invitation to understanding, Shooting Stars and Origami Swans offers transgender and nonbinary readers the possibility of recognition, while giving others a window into experiences they may never have known firsthand. Its poems challenge readers to consider the harm caused by rejection and the transformative power of compassion, affirmation, and inclusion.
Raw, vulnerable, and ultimately hopeful, this collection is a testament to the courage it takes to stop merely existing and begin truly living. Each poem becomes a fragment of a life reclaimed, a wish released into the world, and a reminder that becoming who you have always been is never a journey without meaning. Sometimes, the most extraordinary transformation is simply learning to see yourself clearly—and discovering that the woman in the mirror was there all along.
Praise & Reviews
"In a cultural moment when trans lives are legislated, debated, erased, Shooting Stars & Origami Swans insists on presence. These pages carry the weight of decades—the ache of dysphoria, the scars of silence, the slow, stubborn bloom of joy."
— Maya Benton
"This one’s a rollercoaster through gender identity, dysphoria, and joy. “Kintsukuroi Soul” made me want to glue gold into my own cracks (metaphorically, don’t worry). It’s raw. It’s fierce. Five stars for making me cry and cheer in the same breath.
— Manny Rayner
"Some poetry collections invite you to admire the writing. Others invite you to sit with another person’s experiences, even when those experiences are uncomfortable, painful, or far removed from your own. Shooting Stars and Origami Swans does both.
Purdy puts the reader inside the closet, behind the mask, and in front of the mirror. She writes about the exhaustion of pretending, the harm caused by other people’s judgments, and the years that can pass while someone tries to reconcile the person the world sees with the person they know themselves to be."
— Angel Williams