maybe i don't know what i'm saying

life update + writing & art opportunities

The second part of that Modern Baseball lyric continues “but I’m saying it anyway.”

As I’ve written about preparing and crowdfunded for here at Trans Poetica, I spent the last week of September at the Roots. Wounds. Words. Retreat on top of a mountain in North Carolina. On September 12, we had housing issues come up and I was in the deepest depression I’ve had in a long, long time. On September 23, I went to NC anyway. While there, Hurricane Helene hit. I don’t feel like regurgitating what we went through, but RWW did post about it here if you’re curious. It felt unreal. I didn’t take a ton of pictures during the week, but for some reason I did snap this one at the senior center-turned-shelter. Did I need proof it was real?

I feel strange being back in my home, processing trauma that no one else around me went through. I feel strange being in my home, in sunny Texas, when people in North Carolina are still suffering.

People in the Gulf Coast, people all around the world are suffering, and going through this trauma has only made my commitment to collective liberation stronger than ever before.

I wondered when I’d write another newsletter, but honestly I’m reaching for any type of routine I can manage. I feel changed. I feel exhausted. I feel grateful for every single person at RWW and I’ll forever hold each of you close to me. I feel nervous about worsening conditions under capitalism. I fear what next hurricane season, next winter, next summer will bring.

Be kind to me, yourself, everyone you meet. We all need it.

Global Solidarity:

• From ShutItDown4Palestine:

  • As we approach the one year mark of the genocide on Gaza, a coalition of Palestinian organizations in North America and Europe have joined forces for an international day of action on October 5th: 1 year of genocide, 1 year of resistance.

• USCPR is a good resource for engaging with us representatives and finding local actions

• Donate through Gaza Funds

• If you are looking for help or looking to help those affected by Helene, please check out this resource

• The Gulf Coast PSL is on the ground providing aid and support after Helene. Donate to their efforts here

• If you’re in North Texas, read and sign the DFW Anti-War Committee’s pledge

• Stay updated on the Texas DPS transphobic ID policies here

Writing & Art Opportunities

• TalkDeath -

  • TalkDeath.com is always looking to commission marginalized writers on pieces related to death traditions, grief, death care, and the funeral industry. We offer $0.20/word for 800-1200 words, and folks can pitch to me directly at sage@talkdeath.com

• That Trans Friend You Didn't Know You Needed - anthology for trans families

  • TransFriend is creating an anthology of writing by family members, friends, parents of trans kids, and by trans kids themselves who have stories to tell

• here to complain - pays BIPOC contributors $50 - nonwriters welcome!

  • if you’re Black or brown with a work-related microaggression story to tell, we wanna hear it— because who among us doesn’t need to vent.

• LittlePuss Press

  • We are currently considering original manuscripts of fiction and non-fiction (including works-in-progress). We are also considering reprint proposals of literary/historical works of significance by transgender authors.

• Printed Matter is seeking artists books, zines, etc on Decolonization, Resistance & Solidarity

• Arsenal Pulp Press - open for full manuscripts in many genres (no poetry)

• Cuéntame Literary Magazine - open for Latine writers - closes TODAY 10/4

• National Leaders Of Color Fellowship - closes 10/13

• Latinx in Publishing - 2025 Writers Mentorship Program - closes 10/13

• Cave Canem - 2025 retreat application open for Black poets - closes 10/15

• manywor(l)ds - open for all/no genres from trans, two-spirit, disabled, neurodivergent, Mad, queer, crip, nonbinary, genderqueer, intersex writers - closes 10/31

• Host Publications - open to radical poetry and fiction collections by emerging LGBTQ+, BIPOC, intersectional feminist, and immigrant voices - closes 10/15

• Girl Dad Press - Sex (Change) and the City anthology - open for work about SATC by any and all queer people - closes 10/21

• The Offing - new Micros Editor Daniel Garcia is seeking 10- to 560-character (including spaces) works in any genre - closes 11/1

• So to Speak - open to all genres, publishes work with an intersectional feminist outlook - closes 11/15

• Abode Press - open to poetry, prose, & hybrid chapbooks - fee waivers available for QTPOC - closes 11/30

• Watermelon Grant - $2000 USD in unrestricted funds to an emerging Palestinian creator in the field of speculative arts - closes 12/6

• All My Relations - Volume 8: honoring our lost - open to racially and ethnically marginalized, gender variant, and disabled creatives only - closes 1/5

Around the Internet:

• Dua Lipa’s interview with author of Bad Habit Alana S Portero, on writing a trans working class novel

• TRA​NSA is available to preorder, with 46 tracks for & by trans and nonbinary folks. This includes a tracklist of over 100 absolute icons, including

  KB Brookins
  !!

• Thyme Travellers: An Anthology of Palestinian Speculative Fiction edited by Sonia Sulaiman is available to buy with proceeds going toward the Gaza Municipality “Life for Gaza” campaign

• “Latinx Heritage Month is a Reminder of Our Community's Flaws” by

  sofía aguilar
  in her newsletter The Slush Pile

• Issue 2 of GARLAND on Queer SFF is available for free online and to purchase in print. (Issue 1 that C.M. Green and I edited on queer spirituality is free here and in print here)

• Flórián Dracula
  paired my poem “When your grieving anthem…” with I Saw the TV Glow in the fantastic article “Haunt Your Own House II: The Shriekquel!” for Write or Die! <3

What I’m up to:

• Recovering. If I owe you an email, an article, something, I’m sorry to say it might take me a minute. This was/is a very full month for me.

• I’m going to be honest, I haven’t picked up a book since before the hurricane. It’s weird that my favorite thing to do feels difficult to access.

• I just finalized my big edits for GOOD GRIEF!

• October 16th, 6:30pm CT: Brooklyn Poets Staff Picks Virtual Reading!! Huge thank you to

  elle kennedy fell
  for nominating me, and to mónica for joining me as a reader! <3 You can register here

• October 17th, 7pm, Austin TX: Queertowne Live! with KB Brookins - come listen to us talk about being trans Texan writers! *yeehaw emoji*

• October 24th, 7pm CT: A virtual Halloween reading with so many writers I adore, organized by Bri Gonzalez. Register here!

• Check out my free zines! I’ll add paid options for SOUTH TEXAS SENTIDO soon now that I have printer access again.

Thank you for being here.

<3

Thanks for reading this far down! Trans Poetica will always be free, but tips are greatly appreciated! I have free zines here, and I’m available for editing, readings, and more through my site.

If you have an opportunity for trans, BIPOC, disabled, otherwise marginalized writers or artists you’d like me to include, please let me know. If I’m platforming an institution that is doing wrong by our communities, please let me know that, too.