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here (queer?) to stay

managing burnout, plus regularly scheduled queer stuff

SG Huerta
Jul 25, 2023
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This is the first time in my life where I’m actually able to enjoy summer without school looming ahead. I saw the school supplies aisle set up in H-E-B a couple weeks ago and only panicked for a millisecond! What a weird feeling!

I’m still experiencing some burnout symptoms. I’m also practicing self compassion. Taking my pills. Talking to my therapist. Leaving the house. Writing… prose?

Above all, I’m trying to manage my relationship to poetry. I realized that if I take care to not burn out further now, I’ll get to do poetry stuff for longer. So when I would normally be working 13 hour days, reading 3 books a week, wearing myself out on microaggression-riddled socializing, I’ve been working closer to 7-8 hours, cooking, watching Suits, and playing Going Under.

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Taking care of my brain and body is weird! It’s almost like I’m too used to chaos and/or dysfunction. L-o-l.


Last week, I went to Houston to hang out with people I love, and to participate in a beautiful reading at City Hall.

César Ramos of Raspa Magazine put together this wonderful exhibit of queer Latinx Texan writers, Aquí and Now.

My poem can be found online here, but also IRL! In Houston!

Latinx Poetry  They say, Please only send poems about the Latinx experience.  Pero what does that mean!  I am xicanx when I conjugate poorly, tell Welita that I used to grade papers when I mean I will grade papers después de mi cafecito. I am xicanx whether or not the stereotypes fit. I am xicanx when I sit down to write a poem. I am xicanx when my favorite person brings home Takis y Jarritos de cada sabor as a treat.  Every poem is a Latinx poem. Every poem is a trans poem. Every poem is a queer poem.  The first man to take notice of my potential, 							pay attention to me for longer than a month, doesn’t like my poems 	my gender 		my hair 			my first language.  My early poems were so earnest 	so malleable 		so reserved 			so neat little left-justified lines 				sad imitations of sad cishet white dudes.  My poems are still so earnest. 	But I prefer my codeswitching pocha way of messing up/with two white supremacist colonizing languages. 	I prefer the little moments that my brown &/or trans siblings &/or lovers live in.
I was so nervous about sending this poem in. I’m so glad I did.

The reading was incredibly moving. If I wasn’t on my pills I definitely would have been openly weeping on stage. Like, for people dismissed and dehumanized by the government to be welcomed to City Hall of the biggest city in the state… For me to go through all the racist queerphobic colonial shit in undergrad and grad school, and come out alive and maybe even thriving a tiny bit?

this is queer & trans joy embodied tbh!

Many eternal thanks to César, Victor, Farrah, Stalina, and everyone in Houston

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who made me feel at home as my queer Chicano poet self.


Now for some trans and/or literary links:

Submissions:

  • Taco Bell Quarterly
    is closing on July 31! They pay a lot! I love the editors!

  • ANMLY has a fantastic folio coming soon. Are you into CNF Video Game Writing From LGBTQ+ Writers of Color? Check out the call for subs here

    • ANMLY is also open for general subs until August 1. I hear one of the nonfic co-editors loves queer and trans BIPOC narratives.

  • The Latinx Archive has a new anthology in the works, Not Your Papi’s Utopia: Latinx Visions of Radical Hope. Submissions close August 1.

  • The Bennett Nieberg Transpoetic Broadside Prize is open until August 2. Trans poets without a full-length, send your stuff in!

  • Get your chapbooks of all genres ready.

    Abode Press
    is opening for submissions on August 15! Check out our submissions page here. (Plus, learn more about who we are in our Substack!)

Stuff to read:

  • Belle Point Press’ Mid/South Sonnets anthology is now available to pre-order!! I have a Texan Sonnet in there, and there are so many poets I admire in it as well!

  • fifth wheel press
    is having a Sealey Challenge sale on their digital books! This post on their Substack has a lot of great resources for affordable queer poetry

  • I wrote about 10 trans poetry collections I love for Chicago Review of Books

Workshops:

  • I’m teaching a workshop with Abode Press!!! For only $10, join me on September 6th for Writing Queer and Trans Joy. Full description here.

    • For an idea of what I’m interested in with trans joy, check out the folio I edited for ANMLY.

    • The workshop is mostly rooted in poetry, but writers of all genres are absolutely welcome!!

Abode Press | $10 | New workshop with SG Huerta | Writing Queer & Trans Joy | Sept 6th, 6pm CST Virtual Workshop | www.abodepress.com/events
  • Poet C.T. Salazar is teaching a two-day sonnet workshop with Belle Point Press! Registration includes a free copy of Mid/South Sonnets

  • Roots. Wounds. Words. has a new program for justice-involved storytellers, Words of Resistance and Restoration. The program is free, and applications close next week.

    • If this doesn’t apply to you, I 100000% recommend RWW programming for any BIPOC. RWW saved my life, frankly.


Suits corner:

I’m on S4E11. Fuck Harvey honestly! And also I <3 Rachel and Mike!


If you know me, you know that August is a difficult month for me.

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I might be a bit quieter here, or maybe just more sad on here. Or maybe I’ll cope in my normal way of trying the Sealey Challenge and falling off 11 days in.
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We’ll see how this self-compassion stuff goes!

<3

blurry selfie of me and an orange cat perched on my shoulder
I met this cat in Houston. I was told not to steal him, which was the worst part of my trip

trans poetica is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

You may have noticed that I added a paid option for this newsletter. I’m currently going through a few big life transitions & recently got accepted to a residency to finish my first full-length manuscript! Subscriptions will help offset these expenses. Plus, if you subscribe as a founding member I’ll send you a zine grab bag!

That said, trans poetica will always always remain free. I do this because I love writing and connecting with likeminded folks. “From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs.” Thanks for reading this far down!

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I’m not a gamer in the slightest (yet???) but I’m incredibly fixated on this game right now. Might post a review when I complete the final dungeon.

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I’m willing to pretend the Dallas-Houston beef doesn’t exist

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Someone with a dead parent tell me it’s okay to still be depressed as fuck about it 3 years later

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INEVITABLY I get triggered because my dad was a book nerd, too

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