february '23

now with a new section: current events!

news

a quieter month in terms of publications and other news, but i’ve got some exciting stuff brewing in the background.

• published poems: “chicken,” “live tweeting my mental breakdown,” “this industrial chic art space will haunt your worst nightmares” in Powders Press Issue 4: Spectrum

• published collaborative work: “How to Read Auras” by tommy blake in Beaver Magazine (i did the design!)

• published poem: “personal evolution as alchemy” in the lickety-split

• published poem: “The Sexiest Things to Do After Sex” in dream boy book club’s series 2

• mini zines: i’ve recently released a few mini zines that you can print at home for free on my itch.io page! go go go!

• substack essay: “The Year of 250+ Submissions, or How Indie Lit Saved My Life” (i’m proud of this one!)

notes

as i churn towards the end of my graduate program, i’m starting to think harder about what my final capstone publication looks like. and as you may remember from my undergrad thesis, i’m not always great at planning this stuff ahead of time. so right now, i’m writing loosely around the idea that i may live somewhere besides baltimore when this is all said and done. i’m thinking about writing a hybrid love letter to my childhood, and have been reflecting on the environment in which i grew up. right now, this looks like writing a lot about childhood events, familiar places, and…video games. a lot of video games. anyway, if it’s not obvious, i just turned 27 and i need both nostalgia and escapism more than i ever have before, and it’s coming out in my writing. but luckily, i have a really great workshop group right now, and i’m extremely grateful for it. onward and upward?

sneak peek

did you know i have a full-length poetry book coming out with Querencia Press? well, now you do! the abyss is staring back explores stasis, disability, and late-life queerness through childhood memories and/or the internet. and i’ve included a little sneak peek below!

save changes to untitled?

sometimes you pack a candle away and it reminds you > of how being alive again after being dead for so long is such a mindfuck > (last summer it took you as long to restart as a spent cell phone in august heat) > sometimes you > imagine money > imagine fame > imagine believing in God > imagine wearing a Don’t Tread On Me shirt in 2022 > imagine not being addled by iced coffee > imagine the fever dream of reality > balloons tied up outside the city jail > mez-amaro in a fancy bottle you’re afraid to pour from > uneven ground, crooked horizon lines > fireworks so far away you can only see them > imagine remembering winter > its snowspeckled rooftops and smothered backyards as tall as my springer spaniel > sometimes anxiety fucks your imagination and then > sometimes all you can say to yourself is cut it the fuck out

friends

• call: dream boy book club is open for submissions of short work for their second online series

• release: Heaven, Ekphrasis by Sterling-Elizabeth Arcadia is now out with kith books

• and also: fifth wheel press is open until February 28 for a themed digital anthology, come sail away

current events

in the interest of archiving my every thought, here’s what i’ve been reading, watching, listening to, and playing.

• books: Self Care by Leigh Stein, baby, sweetheart, honey by Emily Perkovich, The Hurting Kind by Ada Limón, the castration of a minor god by John Compton, Glitching Al Pacino by Siobhan Dunlop, I Am Not Coming Out to You by Devon Capizzi, DUH by Juliet Gelfman-Randazzo (reread)

• tv: The Circle (Netflix), The Traitors (Peacock), School of Chocolate (Netflix)

• movies: The Menu (HBO Max)

• games: Stardew Valley, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Pokémon X, Mario Party Advance