First, Tha NEWS.

Chicago again and been busy. The drive back was uneventful aside from it being the hottest two days of the year (so far) and not having air conditioning in the Fiero. I lost about six pounds of water weight in one day. That wasn't so great. Got to spend the night with some absolute sweeties, though. That was nice. Thanks Lex, thanks Bex. Love youse.

Anyway. Starting with some work news today.

Over on the Patreon I posted a new poem for 22 CARDS, titled "Letter to Stevens from Arco" and the notes that go along with it. It's been well-received both by Stevens himself and the folks who follow me over there. If you'd like a read, you can sign up for as little as $1 a month and read everything I post over there.

Publication-wise, I've cleared the edits and TOC for the upcoming issue of Sobotka, though it—as of yet—doesn't have a release date. They'll be running two poems sometime this summer. Allium also informed me that I have two poems slated for the Spring 2027 issue.

Just finished a track for a project with Mira from Sparkling Urbana and Slap Bunt called "Transit Chicago" that will be hopefully featured in an all-trans metal compilation for mutual aid. The release should be tomorrow, and so I'll send out a quick note to remind y'all when that happens. After some back-and-forth, we decided on the name Horseform Archive for this, because it sounds interesting but means nothing. There will probably be more coming from this ridiculousness, so I'm currently squatting the Bandcamp name. More... later?

Second, INTERLUDE.

Do not, however, make the mistake of thinking all desire is yearning.
~ Maggie Nelson, Bluets

Third, CONSUMPTION.

• Sparkling Urbana released the first single from their upcoming album! It’s called “Do the Fat-Bottomed Girls Still Ride?” and it fuckin’ rips. Dani’s drums jump between tight country two-beat and expansive rock anthem, Mae’s bass and backing vocals are solid as hell, Guthrie’s vocals are full and passionate and snarky, and Mira rips a solo worthy of any classic rock classic. I’ve been waiting for this album for months. And the next single? Might be my favorite song of theirs.

• I have managed to acquire two new Maggie Nelson books: Pathemata and Shiner. I should probably write at some point about Nelson's influence on my work.

• I finally sat down to play Final Fantasy VII Remake since the third and final volume of the project has been announced. I still love this deeply weird story, all the flawed characters, and of course, the unremitting queerness of it. The only thing I'm sad about is the fact that I won't be able to play this game without already knowing the plot beats, motivations, etc. I think it would be wild to play this game with no knowledge of the original. One thing that has really impressed me so far is the way the game has made me far more emotionally involved in the characters. Some of that is due to the obvious advances in cutscene tech—everything is rendered in the game engine and animated at a much better quality than the Squeenix feature-length movies—but the writing is just... that much better. There's more flesh to the bones of the story. And considering the original is my favorite game of all time, well. I bought the second chapter (Rebirth) without even hitting the halfway point. I have taken the bait.

• Been watching some World Cup here and there. I'm not an avid football fan, but enough to enjoy the game even when I don't have a rooting interest (which is most of the time.) Luckily in Chicago we also get Telemundo over the air, so we can watch most of the games that FOX doesn't give a shit about, and with a much more lively play-by-play. I also get to be reminded of how piss-poor my Spanish is. But as we're hitting the tail end of the Group Stage, I'll probably be watching more.

Fourth, HUSTLE.

Books available:

• THE FAILURE EXPERIMENT - a serial poem influenced by 20th century sci-fi and cyberpunk, dealing with love in the age of mechanical reproduction. Novelist KB Wagers called it “a delightful electrical tangle of words and feelings.” A Kindle version is available.

• confessions from a drainage ditch - a collection focusing on growing up rural and how those experiences carry forward, both helpful and harmful. A Kindle Version is available.

• A Void and Cloudless Sky - A chapbook akin to an EP, short and experimental, and containing some of my favorite work. Musician and editor Mer Yayanos says it’s “packed with highbrow references and lofi phrases that beg to be verbalized, to be invoked.” [Note: this is my only “traditionally published” work, and I get no money from it until I hit like ten sales a year. But you get a pdf for free, just for being subscribed to this newsletter! Grab it here! It’s a beautiful object, if you’d rather have a physical copy, though.]

If you're liking this whole project and want to support it directly, here is my Patreon. All paying subscribers receive access to all content I post there, for as little as $1.

Finally, THE OUTRO.

Kind of a short one this time around, mostly because I've just been pretty busy, especially with the Horseform Archive track.

But, you see, I finally have an ADHD diagnosis. I'm rolling with Vyvanse at the moment and it's been working well enough. One thing I know for sure is that I will be consuming far, far less caffeine, especially right away in the morning or on an empty stomach. But honestly? That was one of the goals for this: way less soda. And less snacking. And more work done, because I actually start and finish things. We're just about two weeks in and it's been noticeable. Shit, I finished a song for the first time in literal decades. Did you know that nearly 80% of ADHD diagnoses are successfully managed with medication? It's almost like there's a deficiency in our brains!

So anyway, fuck RFK Jr. and I hope that duplicitous fucker gets whatever is coming to him. And thanks to Jamie McKelvie (who won't read this because lol like Jamie would follow me) for convincing me that maybe there's something to this whole ADHD thing.

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