@jillbergantz
Journalist by trade. Poet by heart. Conceptual artist when words fail. | Community of Writers, deYoung Museum, Tupelo Press, Barrow Street, Trampset, 404 Ink | jillbergantz.com ig @jillbergantz | Black trans lives matter. 🏳️🌈
Part of the issue is that those most actively protesting and leading mutual aid are women and gender non-conforming people. Both groups are illegible to many as protesters. This helps explain the invisibilization of current protests and resistance.
AND DON’T FUCKING FORGET THIS TIME
“We were raising our son to believe that no matter where you come from or what you look like, all of us deserve compassion and kindness. Renee lived this belief every day. She is pure love. She is pure joy. She is pure sunshine.”
Brooks Otterlake @i_zzzzzz Inventing a new lifestyle philosophy called "The Nine Delights" where each day you try to experience at least three of the nine delights 10:05 PM • Jun 25, 2021 • Twitter Web App 71 Retweets 1 Quote Tweet 1,198 Likes Brooks Otterl... @i_zzz... • Jun 26, 2021 Replying to @i_zzzzzz THE NINE DELIGHTS Walking Around Fellowship Deliciousness Transcendence Goofing Amelioration Coitus Enthrallment ** WILDCARD *
Nine Delights 2026
I have had to erase like 5 skeets because what I want to say about these fucking files is going to get me banned. I am not okay. None of the ppl you know who are rape or CSA survivors are ok. This country is a cesspool of sickos and creeps, and they all protect each other
Your honor, whatever you're gonna say, it won't hurt me, because I've already said worse about myself
oh is it men's day? i didn't notice because i'm too busy listening to women
how can you not be romantic about beesball
Warhol’s time capsules?✔️
And also: The Post Office in a rural town. The mail, the keys, the pinboard announcing births & deaths: we’re accessioned too.
“The past and present wilt—I have fill’d them, emptied them.
And proceed to fill my next fold of the future.” —WW
poets.org/poem/song-my...
I DO KNOW SOME THINGS RICHARD SIKEN (Copper Canyon, 2025) In front of Halloween lights on my mantel
TRUE LOVE A dog bites down on a stick of dynamite and takes off running. They are going to explode together. Imagine: making someone feel like that, making them lose their mind like that. At the bars, I used a fake name. I was as blurry and undefinable as everyone else, equally afraid of being alone or being touched. My fears canceled each other out. Pure ambivalence. It made me dangerous. Still, we do what we can. The barn dance was a yawn. The barn dance caller told us how to move, so it wasn't that much fun. We got out, quick as a lamb's tail. Two shakes. One, two. I don't know how to say it, so I'll say this: Something bright, then holes. Beauty pours in. Open your beart then. And if you find yourself caught under the sycamore trees in a sudden rain, drenched and thunderstruck—which would be fine—made breathless by the simplest thing, say yes. Yes, anything you. Love, Love. It isn't a word; it's the sound a pebble makes. Some swerve to pass, some drink to win, some watch while the man strays, singing, into the ditch. Be glad that you have something to say, someone to say it to, and that you can say it until you are all worn out. A long time ago, maybe not so long, I knew a man who was slippery and morally flexible. I loved him. Sure, loved him. It lasted exactly as long as it was supposed to. I propose there is a man somewhere, chalk-faced in evening light, traveling furiously toward you-and the sun's going down, and his windows are open, and everything's coming over the horizon on cue. If you haven't started preparing yourself, I strongly suggest you do. How long will it last? It's hard to say. The captain is always silent after the ship goes down. It's a tragedy, like everything, but the sea is only waist-deep. I insist this is a lullaby.
Be glad that you have something to say, someone to say it to, and that you can say it until you are all worn out.
[…]
I insist this is a lullaby.
Richard Siken
@coppercanyonpress.bsky.social
22 there they are. ghosts. resemblance. do it, and again do it. someone does it.
Bruce Andrews
Also, I am a firm believer that every author should have a website with an email address, and that every time you read something you love a lot, you should send a little note to the author if you can.
Not coincidentally, the Panthers were also one of the few major left organizations in the homophobia-laden '60s/'70s to openly support the Stonewall riots and the ensuing queer liberation movements.
All art so far occurs during wartime.
Alan Gilbert
A teal background features the cover of Nerve: Unlearning Workshop Ableism to Develop Your Disabled Writing Practice, along with the teal and black Wordgathering logo, teal medication capsules, and purple text reading, “The one book on writing that understands the concept of spoon theory, acknowledges the veracity of crip time, and addresses the reality that not all writers live pain-free lives or have the capacity to sit at a desk, hold a pen, or put in hours of work without causing harm to our bodies or brains.”
Endless gratitude to @onagritz.bsky.social and @wordgathering.bsky.social for this review of my @sundresspub.bsky.social craft book NERVE, which so beautifully describes how I hoped to position my writing advice for disabled, chronically ill, and neurodivergent writers.
One of our own in the writers community, Chelsea Qinn Yarbo, has passed. Her estate needs help to settle her end of life care. Please help spread the word and donate if you can.
www.gofundme.com/f/6n9tz-supp...
Resistance is everywhere.
Truth-telling matters.
Mutual aid will get us through.
en*gendered we reopen on SEPTEMBER FIRST for essays • poetry • cnf • flash • short fiction • rants • monologues • reviews • diatribes • artwork • crafts • activism resources • zines • sex, sexuality, disability, & gender related advice and education • diary entries • what i wish i’d said letters • erasures of that one night you sent all those texts • dear john letters • novellas* • micro chaps • template letters to send to your reps/corporations • suggestions for cool ways to come out to your mom • personals • missed connections • book reports • artwork • recipes • more artwork • we will need a cover • we’ve got a thumbtacks and some wall space.... think: BULLETIN BOARD *jk, send those to kith www.engenderedlitmag.com
en*gendered reopens SEPTEMBER 1st!
(During today’s hearing, the judge said that her clerks have also been up since around 2:30 a.m., when she called them about the emergency motion for a temporary restraining order.)
bsky.app/profile/anna...
& another, found, via High Country News (peep those prepositions)—
Happy #smallpoemsunday
@tomsnarsky.bsky.social
YOU GUYS IT’S ME
We are creating a Spanish language section on The Rumpus, for original creative work written in Spanish and are looking for a volunteer editor for this section. If this could be you, please send a brief letter of interest to roxane@therumpus.net by Tuesday, September 2nd!
Remembering Linda Pastan
“in the pure blue
of insight”
@tomsnarsky.bsky.social
#smallpoemsunday
#poetry
"The courage to be brave when it matters most requires a lifetime of small decisions that that set us on a path of self-awareness, attentiveness, & willingness to risk failure for what we believe is right." Mariann Budde, Episcopal Bishop of Washington
Apparently while we were playing the Der Freischutz overture last night there was an earthquake. I didn’t notice it: I was busy counting bars rest and basking in the wonderful horn solo.
Honestly, I am not sure if I’ve ever met a person, of any gender in the United States, who hasn’t been sexually assaulted or raped or both, multiple times. It’s an epidemic.
Zeina Hashem Peck