un sueño dentro otro sueño
GOOD GRIEF preorders & a new poema (draft)!
In the time since my last newsletter (a wonderful interview with THE Bri Gonzalez), I celebrated my solar return. It has been a very eventful year with lots of difficult but important lessons. The most important ones to me: slow down, and put your energy where it matters.
My first nonfiction chapbook, GOOD GRIEF, is coming out with fifth wheel press next month— and the preorder link is officially live!!
I’m honestly… a little scared. But after seeing the cover come to life thanks to the wonderful nat raum, receiving generous blurbs from Sean Enfield and Marcelo Hernandez Castillo1, and rereading the whole book again, I’m in an introspective mood.
Why did I turn to writing? Why do I continue to return?
The book’s penultimate essay, “A CHORUS OF HOLY FUCKS FOR MY 24TH BIRTHDAY,” brings me back to this age-old (ha) question: How do we cope with growing older, leaving loved ones and traumas in the past?
If I had answers, this probably wouldn’t be a very interesting intro essay to read. The poem draft I’m sharing with you wouldn’t have been written:
I think the rest of the poem is waiting to reveal itself. Credit is due to the poem “Los perros románticos” by Roberto Bolaño for the title and initial inspiration, and to Reyes Ramirez’s book El Rey of Gold Teeth (and his Texas Book Festival panel with mónica teresa ortiz) for the way his poems codeswitch in ways that trip up the reader intentionally. Credit is also due to the friends and fam I made on that mountain.
Before this newsletter gets any longer, here are the usual links and resources:
Global Solidarity:
Donate through Gaza Funds
Stay up to date with the international BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) campaign. Learn how to start local campaigns here
Support the striking amazon and starbucks workers— unionize your workplace, too!
Writing & Art Opportunities
beestung - open for work from non-binary, genderqueer, & two-spirit writers - February issue guest edited by KB Brookins
diode poetry journal - open to all types of poetry year-round
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
For Trans Families, With Love Anthology
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.
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)
new words {press} - citizen trans* {project} - open to post-election writing from trans writers - closes 12/31
Sundress Publications - Microgrant for Palestinian Writers - closes 12/31
Variant Lit - open to all genres - closes 12/31
Ghoulish Books - The Best Trans Horror of the Year - accepting reprints of trans horror published in 2024 only - closes 1/1
Lambda Literary 2025 Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices - closes 1/2 ($30 fee)
Abode Press - Workshop Proposals - closes 1/4
All My Relations - Volume 8: honoring our lost - open to racially and ethnically marginalized, gender variant, and disabled creatives only - closes 1/5
Infrarrealista Review - ¿A Donde Vas Dreamer? Zine - Open to poetry, fiction, and nonfiction in English and Spanish from 1st and 2nd generation immigrants who live in Texas - closes 1/15
new words {press} - open to full-length poetry and hybrid collections from trans and gender-expansive writers - closes 1/15
Black, Indigenous, and Trans of Color Histories Lab :: Humanists-in-Residence - $3000 stipend - closes 1/17
Abode Press - Virtual Summer Retreat - free to apply; workshops in poetry, short fiction, speculative fiction, & nonfiction - closes 1/30
manywor(l)ds - open to trans, two-spirit, disabled, neurodivergent, Mad, queer, crip, nonbinary, genderqueer, intersex writers - closes 1/31
Belt Publishing - The Great Lakes Anthology - open to writing (mostly prose) about the Great Lakes - closes 1/31
ANMLY - open to all genres - no fee for Black, Indigenous, and Palestinian writers - closes 2/1
Around the mostly trans & gender expansive internet:
the great Nikki Giovanni recently passed away. her poem “Allowables” is one I think of often <3
the latest fifth wheel press anthology light ‘em up is out!
three amazing flash essays by Lane Michael Stanley in The Rumpus
post-us election grief resources from Trans Lifeline
“Only a working-class, socialist movement can win trans liberation” by
Rosa Astra and Morgan Artyukhina in Liberation News
“Us versus Them” by Amber Isaac in Infrarrealista Review (her poetry book Peppermint is forthcoming from Plancha Press!)
Luke Sutherland interviewed noam keim in smoke + mold about noam’s wonderful collection The Land is Holy
My poem “small violences” is in the first issue of Cuéntame Literary, alongside Bri Gonzalez, féi hernandez, and other incredible writers
“The Crooked Child” by torrin a. greathouse in Copper Nickel
“I Dropped An Anchor Into The Vastness Of Time” by Rajani Gudlavalleti in her substack— incredibly beautiful piece from an amazing writer!
“‘Not Everyone Can Leave’: Survival Advice from Trans Teens in Texas” by Marisol Cortez in Texas Observer
Language Is Also A Place: An Interview with Lena Khalaf Tuffaha by George Abraham in TriQuarterly
“This is a trans exploration (in the dark)” by Amelia Ada in Annulet
check out the start of a great series: “land acknowledgement: landback updates 1” from wallamide
free e-books from LittlePuss til the end of the year!! I especially recommend Faltas by the late great Cecilia Gentili <3
every book through Abode Press is also on sale through the new year.
What I’ve been up to:
My next virtual workshop “Write, Grieve, Repeat” is happening with fifth wheel press on January 25th! Grief is the constant undercurrent of my work (and my life, honestly)— I strongly believe it’s an important act that we don’t do enough of. I’ll get into that further in the workshop! The cost is $10-$25 sliding scale. Tickets and more info can be found here
My book is coming out in a month— please do get in touch if you want to collaborate on any readings, interviews, etc <3
What’s on the horizon for trans poetica:
a wintry reading round-up
more author interviews
more on GOOD GRIEF
hasta la liberación
<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.
read their work, buy their books!!
I'm so excited for GOOD GRIEF! Congratulations! I can't wait to read it 💕
good grief is already my favorite release of 2025 😌