So what we doin next year?
on the books I’ve read, lives I’ve lived, and manifestations we’ll make.
Lovers & Friends,
HEY (is this mic on?)! How are you doing today? The year is damn near over & if you’re getting this email you MADE IT, chile. Let the congregation say amen cause the devil didn’t con us out of our lives.
I’m coming to you again with thoughts, updates, and a manifestation that I hope you & me can make together. 2023 is a lucky year (2+0+2+3 = 7), or so I’ve been told! Let’s put some things in the air (but first, KB updates).
My debut full-length poetry collection, Freedom House, is available for preorder NOW !!!!!! Getchu one from anywhere you get books, or else (I will cry myself to sleep).
Freedom House has already gotten an interview! See me talk about the process of writing it, the necessity of writing about anti-Blackness/transness, and more with the Austin Chronicle here.
Rumor has it that I’ve got a new poem out! Check it out (thanks to Sycamore Review <3) here.
I got invited to be a part of the Academy of American Poets’ Dear Poet series. This series is a multimedia education project that invites young people in grades 5-12 to write letters in response to poems written and read by award-winning poets. Lil ole me (plus a bunch of literal literary heroes) can be seen reading our poems for the kiddos online here.
The Academy was also nice enough to re-publish (not one) (not two) (but) three poems by ya boi !!! Check out “black hair”, “Elon Musk is Moving to Austin”, and “Bare Minimum or: To-Do List for White America” (spoiler alert: two of these are in Freedom House).
After yet another year full of anti-trans legislation & rhetoric being peddled by republicans & The New York Times alike, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton quietly surveilled trans Texans. Read my latest (thanks Autostraddle <3) on why you should be paying attention here.
My friend Jen St Jude was nice enough to mention How To Identify Yourself With a Wound (my chapbook, y’all!) in their notable debuts by Trans, Nonbinary, and Gender Non-conforming authors piece in Chicago Review of Books <333 Read the entire list here!
I think that’s it (for now). Thanks for reading & supporting me this year!
Now I want to challenge you to a duel (jk, more like a practice in thinking): What were 22 good things that happened for you in 2022? They can be personal, professional, spiritual – whatever! Here are mine:
I learned how to roller skate! This is something I’ve put off since I was at least 12, so !!! big deal !!!
I traveled out of the country for the first time (to Cozumel with my love + family <3)
I changed my name and gender marker! Though that came with some issues, I now don’t face constant anxiety when I give my IDs to people !!
I snorkeled for the first time 🙂
I hit a 140-day streak on Duolingo :))
I bought a pair of Heely’s (that you can see me skating poorly & happily in on TikTok)!
I bought a pair of Tripp pants (a baby goth dream!)
I started biking more!
I saw Lizzo in concert :)))
& Daddy Yankee (Barrio Fino stans, anyone?)
I got engaged!
I joined the board of Ground Floor Theatre, an organization I wholeheartedly believe is bringing something to the thespian landscape that is exciting & necessary (donate to them!)
I read 25 AMAZING books by friends & strangers (let’s be friends on goodreads!) *warning: it’s gonna get more focused on professional stuff after this <3*
I (alongside my agent) sold my debut memoir to Alfred A. Knopf (coming in 2024) !!!
I got 29 poems published – most of which you can read online for free !!!
I got 11 essays published (same thing) !!!
My debut chapbook came out, and sold 1,000+ copies !!!
I organized and went on my first tour (& it had 37 stops)! Thank u to all who booked me!
Me & my friends put together an anthology and workshop series on Austin, TX experiences of Winter Storm Uri, and all 100 copies sold within a month (w/ all $1200+ made going to local organizing efforts)!
I made the first draft of a new book that I’ve been thinking about writing for 6 years !!!
I started a grad school program (& don’t plan on dropping out again, lol) !!!
Boom. Follow-up question: what are 23 things that you are manifesting for 2023? When I say “manifest”, I’m not thinking of resolutions (which tend to fail in the first 2 weeks). I mean: what are you willing to put motivation and steady momentum behind in order to make happen? What people are you going to meet? What pavements are you going to skate on because you were brave enough to try it? Let me know 🙂
Friend, we’ve reached the end and I’m steadily rooting for you. Let me be an example – this year was looking very scary towards the beginning, yet I told you 22 things that happened, most of them I couldn’t have predicted on 1/1/22. If you want it, & all the isms & phobias aren’t in the way, I want it to be yours. Do you?
Till next time. Also, GET SOME REST!
Love, Peace, & Chicken Grease,
KB
I love your list of 22 good things that happened in 2022. But you left out the awesome poetry class that you taught.
I'm working on my list. Wishing you a fabulous 2023.