Trans Poetics Archive
Pre-order the book!
Monster Beauties is Maine’s first transgender poetry anthology. It is an intergenerational transgender poetic kaleidoscope looking into a prism of trans narratives.
UPCOMING EVENTS
UPCOMING EVENTS
May 20 - Monster Beauties Book Launch
Monster Beauties is Maine’s first transgender poetry anthology. It is an intergenerational transgender poetic kaleidoscope looking into a prism of trans narratives. Join us for the launch of this anthology, featuring performances by grand slam winner Jude Marx, with harpist Tristen Evan Hellewell. Hosted by Maya Williams. Keynote speaker is Ian-Khara Ellasante.
Tuesday, May 20, doors at 5pm - SPACE Gallery in Portland
THIS EVENT IS ASL INTERPRETED
May 21 - Writing the Threshold: Poetry for Liminal Spaces and Times
Join us for a generative writing workshop with Professor Ian-Khara Ellasante, PhD followed by a Trans Poetics Showcase featuring Littlefawn Ketchum, Violet Ferlito and Calla Eris Orion and a special reading with the professor.
We drift in and out of liminality throughout our lives; many of us occupy liminal, or threshold, spaces for the entire duration of our lives. Gloria Anzaldúa refers to the threshold—this transformative “unstable, unpredictable, precarious” state—as nepantla, “a Nahuatl word meaning tierra entre medio.”
In this workshop, we will explore the ways that we are all, at various points or perpetually, in the threshold. While acknowledging the disorientation and alienation often present in the threshold and hybrid spaces we occupy, we will focus on the freedom, unique perspectives, and creative potential available there. Through writing, we’ll greet these aspects of our identities and experiences with generosity and affirmation—and give some serious side-eye to the socially-constructed binaries that make the threshold a precarious place.
Wednesday, May 21, 3pm - LA Arts in Lewiston
May 22 - Youth Poet Showcase Featuring Leigh Ellis at Novel.
Trans students of the Telling Room showcase their work!
Featuring Leigh Ellis with Len Harrison from The Telling Room
Thursday, May 22, 3pm - Novel in Portland
Join us for a generative writing workshop with erstwhile Portland Poet Laureate, Maya Williams.
It is difficult to talk about grief, and it can even be more difficult to write through grief. This workshop will explore Simonides' poetry for epitaphs in Ancient Greece as well as Anis Mojgani's poems of grief, both in response to a person who is no longer living and in response to a person who is still living. Participants will examine how grief is related to mental health, and how poems might be written and revised during hard times. Workshop materials provided at registration. Limited enrollment.
Friday, May 23, 11am - Silverfish, 47 Portland Street, Portland
May 23 - Where Does Your Grief Sit? Generative Workshop with Maya Williams
May 23 - Trans Poets and Scholars Panel
Trans Poets & Scholars Panel featuring Professor Ian-Khara Ellasante, Claudia Wilson, Yaffa, and hosted by Maya Williams.
Friday, May 23, 5-6:30pm - USM Portland McGoldrick Salon A & B
35 Bedford St, Portland, ME 04101
THIS EVENT IS ASL INTERPRETED
May 24 - Poets Breakfast
Celebrate trans poets and poetry over a delicious breakfast!
Saturday, May 24, 10am-12pm - Second Rodeo Coffee, South Portland
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
May 24 - Workshop, Reading & Book Signing with Yaffa
About the Workshop: Join Mx. Yaffa for a workshop about the world building capacity of poetry. The session will discuss the concept of world building, poetry to meet the moment, and how we can show up as poets. Together we'll explore how poems can shape new realms within ourselves, our communities, and beyond.
About the Book: Sage is a poetry collection that acknowledges all transphobia is systemic but the pain of everyday interpersonal violence is still felt in our bones. A collection that highlights challenges and joy within interpersonal relationships from the perspective of a queer and trans Palestinian living at the margins of displacement, disability, immigration & ongoing genocide. Sage is a beacon of light, shedding light to wounds that have festered and rotted, and finding the paths forward as fascism claims more of who we are.
Saturday May 24, 7:00-9:30pm - Print Bookstore, Portland
May 25 - Activating the Voice Workshop with Aquarius Funkk
A somatic, body-based practice session for performing artists, poets, writers, & creatives. Utilizing movement, presence, and awareness exercises, participants will explore their relationship to their voice, to space and time, to self and other. This session encourages participants to connect to their inner language, to gain an understanding of how the energy of their voice can be activated through awareness of the body.
We will flow through 3 areas of practice - Sensing, Emoting, Reflecting. Within these areas, there will be a combination of individual exploration, collective activation, and inner reflection exercises, followed by an opportunity to share reflections with the group.
This practice session is an opportunity to engage in world-building practices that allow participants to build capacity for imagination and possibility.
Wear comfortable clothes, ideally all black or neutral colors, no prints.
To bring: Notebook, Water, A poetry book or two of your choice, any language
Sunday, May 25, 1:00pm-2:30pm - Portland Yoga Collective
98 Cross St N, Ste C, Portland, ME 04101