This month, myself and the B.H.L.M staff launched this website live. I have been posting one portfolio piece in the forms I write and teach, and Now it is getting less cold was a huge level of vulnerability for me. It is my first on the record autobiographical writing, poem or otherwise, period. By the end of this year, I hope to have posted two portfolio pieces each in the forms I teach, in order of me learning them:

short story (18, gap year)

memoir (21, UMass Amherst)

novella (22-24, NaNoWriMo 3x)

lyric poetry (23-, with Tom Daley and March Penn)

haiku (25-, with the Notorious M.F.G)

tanka (26-… I handed Kimiko Hanh a pen at Mass Poetry in Salem)

sonnet (27-… this is form you learn when 15 lines is too long for your scream, and 13 cannot contain your joy)

One thing I won’t post guides on myself? Sestinas. **** em. Never finished one. No idea. I want to learn this year along with everyone else lost on this stupid beautiful Rube Goldberg cube of a form. One day I may not only complete one, but have it be good too.

I want to personally thank Brig Cala for their hard work from Monday, March 17, to the Friday, March 21. I also want to thank K.T for their help in non-public facing administrative tasks while also raising two tots.

There are also numerous poets and writers on Threads who have helped me find a new online writing community.

One speedbump and one go-faster elevation:

Speedbump: I was planning on getting a P.O Box to receive visual art later this year, but may have to invest in one earlier for an effective email campaign. The primary cybersecurity measure I like is making sure that people sign up for specific things, versus a generic newsletter. I use Mailchimp for now. This is a good anti spam law. It also makes Mailchimp once more my go to, versus this site’s integrated list.

Go-faster elevation: Square makes selling existing content very easy. Submittable is a year out at the least in terms of our needs, and I’ve opted to run a half price writing accountability club at a five dollar price point without a private blog but accomodating all forms of writing. I was prepared to moderate closed blogs at ten dollars per week, and that may be an option in various forms down the road.

Above all, the last three months of my life have taught me that my own career in recovery, neuroscience, and social work is not seperate from this one. I may have work and study options abroad coming up for the first time, but I want to focus on what New England does best - shit and excercise and write then sleep like a brick and take vitamin D - for the next eight months.

Looking at you, SOLO Wilderness schools….

Also, yes. I did follow through. We will be posting some poems on the site that beefed with Texas over credit cards while I was at UMass and won. Shhh. Said site has the best waver and copyright protection in the biz.

• Yeyduh K.