Hawe dear reader,
It’s been some time since I’ve written here so if this email finds you displeased with its receipt, I apologize. Social media has become crowded with copies of a copy of a copy and I’ve noticed friends increasingly retreat, so wanted to share news here as well. This update is coming from the Osage Reservation, where I moved home to now over two years ago and has taken much of my time acclimating, stabilizing, and finding community.
I am thrilled to share that a very important book has come out this month where I have a few poems featured. Titled “The Starry Field: A Gathering of New Two-Spirit and Indigequeer Poetry,” it includes Native American poets from across the Americas who identify on the margins while exploring and centering Native language and culture. This is the first anthology of its kind in over a decade. There couldn’t be a more important time for this book, as queer and trans people and Indigenous peoples and our languages are increasingly under attack. There are new poetic voices alongside more established poets. Consider ordering a copy as books of poetry are a labor of love, and the words of Native peoples not as widely read as they should be.
The poems I submitted to this anthology in 2023 explore reconnecting to Indigenous community, gender identity, understanding and acknowledging settler ancestors as a mixed person, and the power of drag culture. It is poignant to share these poems now that I have established myself to some degree in the Osage. I plan to hold at least one local event here at a new community-centered coffee shop in Pawhuska, which is also exciting news in our small town. Having come out over a decade ago, being a part of queer community will always be a part of me, even when I have moved to a more conservative place and there is pressure to shrink oneself. I’m finding that my place is alongside other two-spirit people and have been lucky to find them here.
I’m also pleased to share that next fall 2027 my chapbook “CHANNELS” is under contract to be published by Milk & Cake Press, so stay tuned. It features many of my poems about the Santa Ana River and I will likely come out to California to hold a few readings then. If you’d like a preview, a few poems from this have been published in journals this year, as well as a few from my full-length manuscript that continues its search for a home:
petrichor #31
POETRY Magazine – September 2026
Beloit Poetry Journal – Vol. 75 No. 1 3026
- Apartment Complex Names Along Ball Road
- Starved Imaginations
- Variable Precipitation
About Place Journal – May 2026
Thank you for reading, especially in these times of stress and struggle. I hope these words resonate and move you, and if they do please share with a friend.
