Sometimes a Newsletter– meaning Some Times & News Letter
This newsletter is a meta-commentary about what a newsletter may be and why it becomes a point of stress instead of release. Then, updates and news about the poetry of Aerik Francis aka phaentom[poet]
Hello friends,
It’s been a few moons hasn’t it, friends? A few many moons. I knew this was going to happen when I said I was going to make a newsletter– I was going to get intimidated at the thought of constantly keeping up with things or attempting to write long-form prose (*stress emoji*).
But then I have to stop and breathe and think. This is a newsletter. A news letter. A letter…with news. That’s it. And sometimes there are other things. But only sometimes. That means some times. Times…but only some. Not always. Sometimes. Newsletter.
https://youtube.com/shorts/Gelrd_b2-FQ?feature=share
Okay, great, now that that’s been established, here is some news. But like, not like news network news (*angry emoji*) and not like actual need to know news (*stress emoji*) (and actually that topic can and should be a whole essay one day, how individuals who like to share information over time become burdened with becoming a news hub to others without any compensation and all of the luggage…this is among many reasons why i stopped posting on social media as much as i did like a decade ago and why it makes me anxious and theoretically why i have this as a space. Anyway, this is a digression [or is it?...]). But anyway just a personal newsletter. NEWS. LETTER. Okay! I'm breathing. Breathing. Yes. We’re breathing. Are you breathing? Let’s take another. Phew. Okay.
For real though, to the news, look at this article. About me??? Like omg when I was being interviewed I thought it was a feature of the event as a whole. So it was a really sweet surprise to see and read. https://www.cuindependent.com/2023/03/17/aerik-francis-queer-lit-and-performance-fest/
Special thanks to Julie Carr and Bri Hill for the kind words you all shared about me and my work. Grateful for Denver poetry community, and for kindness and generosity generally.
The event was a Queer Literature and Performance festival/showcase over two nights– which was actually really fantastic. It is such a cool thing not just to share the stage with someone once, but to do it again the next day. Maybe the set is the same and we get to soak in the new details that rise to the surface or ruminate on the topics built from the previous listen. Maybe the set is different and we get to soak in the largeness of an artist’s crafted universe. Maybe it’s both, maybe it’s neither, but certainly there was an extended nuanced conversation about queerness among our works and that extra building of intimacy and so overall it was super cool to take part of. The artists featured were all so so so wonderful and you should run and check out all of their work!: Nathan Alexander Moore, Natalie Earnhart, Selah Saterstrom, Ronaldo Wilson.
Also things that happened were that I got to go to Seattle and it was everything! I was at AWP (American Writers & Writing Programs Conference, I think?) 2023 in Seattle this year, & wow, the city really welcomed me. I truly had a gay ol’ time! ^_^
I have so many feelings regarding AWP, my first time there. When I arrived I already felt overflowing with gratitude, so much that I wanted to practice sharing & pouring out the overflow. So I did. & as i emptied, i found myself being constantly refilled. What a lovely exchange.
I had 3 readings, which is really wild to think about even still, that there were 3 different spots I shared poetry at in Seattle– those being the Blarney Stone pub (where I shared pieces from Miseducation for the first time!), Doghouse leathers (where I shared my vibrator and breast poems and took pictures next to a wall of dildos), and Havana (where I shared my poems Returning and Apocalypse Party in a dark bar that wouldn’t let us in until the time the event was supposed to start– and got to meet a poet I’ve long admired and a new friend poet who was also from Denver and who blew my mind with their poems/considerations on light [in the dark bar]).
Within the practice of practice is failure, & I did fail. I said silly things or felt too anxious or didn't get to see folks or missed chances to say hello. But I think I remain grateful for these failures because they offer so much more space to grow & to later connect.
I found so many harmonies locking into place so often. I got to finally meet so many of you! a dream, truly!! I’m most struck by the small kindnesses given to me. The way Ry & Stephanie & Nathan made time in their busy Seattle lives just to spend time with me– they all came to one of my readings & treated me to lil things like a drink or pizza or brunch or dancing or board games! How Dior & Brandon let me tag along for lunch. How Erin & I screamed & hugged when we saw each other. How Constance & I immediately ran & hugged each other after a panel. Same with Acacia, who was already so generous in letting me take her workshop. How Joshua gave me a copy of his book. How Jason gave me copies of their chapbooks. The way Sam & Chen & I exchanged so many hugs. How Asela & I geeked about meeting each other & then went to go pick up free books together. How my airport wait was less lonely because of Taylor & MJ & Chantel. How I got to meet Tribe & CantoMundistas & social media mutuals in person. How I got to thank publications for reading my work. How often writers I love introduced me to other writers I love. How I got to introduce myself to so many writers I respect, & to hear that my giving them energy & flowers was equally meaningful to them.
& omg all the run-ins with other Coloradans! Julie & Tim & Kelly & Suzi & Steven & Brice & Shelsea & Emily & Confidence & Alejandro & Stephanie & Chris & Eric & Stina & E & DL & Juliette!
I tried to bring my friends who couldn’t come with me, too! I spoke your names & carried your spirits & energy with me too, as best as I could.
I’m sorry, I’m most certainly missing names of other lovely connections made. I’m sorry if we didn’t get a chance to meet or talk. BUT! I’m so looking forward to future opportunities to connect.
Thank you to all the lovelies who exchanged energy with me in Seattle. It was a magical time. I feel so nourished. I was really nervous about COVID and I did my best to mask everywhere, though there were definitely slips. I ended up fine afterward, testing twice when I got home, but I believe that is more due to luck than anything else. I was glad to see so many people masking but I wish we could do this in our daily lives all the time anyway.
I know I don’t do enough– I think about it all the time at the open mic that I host that I should really make a mask statement each time. But I think over these years I’ve just grown so fatigued with confrontation and conflict– very likely to my own detriment. I just got in such bad fights over masking and it made me feel like a cop to the point where I just gave up. I don’t think policing people’s decisions is an abolitionist stance, but I also don’t think making spaces inaccessible due to non-masking is abolitionist either. I dunno, just thoughts…
Okay so things that are forthcoming:
First, poems! Aside from social media and here, you can always find my poems and see what has come out and what is forthcoming on my website at https://www.phaentompoet.com/poems .
I haven’t had a lot of poems drop this year, just 2 for now: My poem “Anti-Elegy for Black Fat” in Rogue Agent, and my poem “Returning” in the recently released anthology Infinite Constellations (one of the next books on my to-read list). But I actually have a good handful that will be coming out soon, so you all can be on the lookout. They will be in The Rumpus, ANMLY, the Indiana Review, Cobra Milk, and Foglifter Journal. They’re all from BODYPOLITIC so that’s exciting (the vast majority of poems from the manuscript are published at this point, that’s so wild to me!).
Next there are a few MISEDUCATION launch events. First and foremost, here is the link to the preorder for the chapbook, which will be coming out soon!
http://ndrmag.org/chapbooks/2023/03/miseducation/
On Saturday afternoon on May 13th Dorothy Chan and I will be in conversation to virtually launch the chapbook! And then the next week, I believe it’s Friday May 19th, there will be an in-person event at Matter bookstore celebrating the book releases of a bunch of local Denver authors, myself included. I’m also hoping to have a June launch event, details coming soon!
But before June is the end of May, and during that time I will be going on a summer writing residency! I won a summer fellowship to attend the Sundress residency in Knoxville, TN. https://sundressblog.com/2023/02/27/winners-of-summer-2023-residency-fellowships/
Especially given all that is going on right now in the country, I feel honored to spend time in the south and to establish community and solidarity and to bear witness. And then I’ll spend a week in Atlanta, GA afterward. I’m very much looking forward to what I’m calling my Southern Spring right before summer starts. So I want to work on my latest project (I’ll talk about it at some point although if you’ve ever heard me rant about filibusters it’s that+++) and really start writing and compiling the research. But my older projects I’ve been letting simmer have been calling me. So I am anticipating doing a lot of editing during that time. Very exciting.
The final thing to mention is the BODYELECTRONIC audio project. The silences have been removed and so it is available to listen to in full, mostly as intended– (there are still a few errors, it seems {“syzygy (arse poetica)” cuts off before it is done and “inbox” was not included, replaced instead with a duplicate of “garbage day”), and I’m going to get those worked on, but it feels right that this is an on-going project and doesn’t seem to have a definite stopping point. Love that, actually!). Please do give it a listen, I promise you’ll be at least surprised and hopefully also delighted. I promise it is like nothing you will have ever heard before– a bold promise, yes, but give it a listen and try prove me wrong (*skeptical emoji* *eyes emoji*). It is available now on all streaming platforms at phaentom[poet]. Here is a Spotify and YouTube link but it should be available everywhere else too:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_noVjTbTP_YSTzjAUnbpfclZosfrHQjHZs
Okay friends, it was nice to check in, thanks for keeping up with me and my shenanigans. I’ll try to do better about making it a NEWS LETTER instead of whatever I blow it up to in my head. Although please believe there are at least 4 tabs open with various prose drafts for newsletters so maybe those will be completed and shared one day. Who knows!!! Please feel free to respond to any of these newsletters if you’d like. Questions, comments, suggestions, concerns, constructive critiques, whatever. Also feel free to let it hang out in your inbox, in which case you probably wouldn’t know that I’m actually inviting you to do so, but, uh, yeah!
Wait okay one last thing to mention is that I have been dabbling in making music. My music production seems to have dark pop vibes from the 2010s, echo-y percussion/afrobeat inspiration, video game music sensibilities, and generally things that make me wiggle and dance. It’s been fun and hopefully I'll start adding words and vocals soon. Anyway, I mention this because I would be down to produce for you for whatever. I dunno, just lemme know, let’s brainstorm! It would be cool for these beats to have a usefulness outside of and beyond myself, and maybe an easier way to collaborate– although I’m always looking for collaborations. I’ve been performing almost monthly at the Clocktower Cabaret and it’s been a blast. It has also forced me to up my performance game and up my fashion game. I would love to do my set with a dancer– and would generally love to do collaborations with dancers/movement artists/aerialists etc. I’m just putting all of this out there into the universe, maybe it reaches and resonates and maybe it doesn’t.
Okay that’s all I got. Cheers friends, thanks for exchanging energy with me here and now.