life's lemons

fuck the fickle

trickle down

friends,

happinesses,

acquaintances,

happenstances.

live intentionally &

separate wheat from chaff.

it’s then that

you’ll craft everlasting,

thirst-quenching shandygaff

from life’s lemons.

favorite date to date

favorite date to date:

nine-four-nineteen.

six-thirty in the morning,

depart the econo motel

after rain,

squeaky tracks

train to

washington park.

disembark,

i start pilgrimaging,

following sign after sign

& trekking two miles

through lush wood.

finally,

come to a clearing

& see another sign

that read

“international rose garden

ahead.” ahead

endless beds of

blooming pink, white, red

yellow, orange, hybrid

cultivated here,

near and far.

not a soul as i sole

through the ambrosia

& pulchritude.

those roses

will forever

bed in my head

when i ruminate on

my favorite date

to date. 🌹

disco nap but i'm back

it’s been a minute. life has been busy so i had to press pause on posting about and promoting my poetry for awhile. i have been writing though. there’s so much to write about since “redacted” came out in april. in july, i turned 30. i celebrated the big 3-0 with friends in chicago. we went to a really rad discothèque. i’m talking light up floors, mirror balls & just good vibes all around. here’s a poem i wrote to capture it.

we go to the disco

to let go,

to overthrow

the everyday

mundane

monotony of

mediocrity.

we go to the disco

to sway hips,

to kiss lips,

our bodies gay

movin’ & groovin’ to

freeform light borne

of a mother mirror ball.

we go to the disco

to celebrate,

to eradicate

the worries of the day.

to turn the beat around

& be surround by

profound hedonism.

a reading of "redacted" @ quatrefoil

friday, june 17th i will be reading poems from “redacted” at the quatrefoil library in midtown. i don’t do readings often, and when i have it’s been to a friend or two or pre-taped. i look forward to sharing these poems live, in the flesh. i also look forward to the dialogue with those that attend. i’ll have a few copies for sale. can’t wait. let’s get poetic AF. cool-as-a-cucumberness and finger-snapping encouraged. :)

link to the FB event page

charting

it’s been a little over a week since redacted was released. the response has far exceeded my expectations and i’m still pinching myself each morning when i check the numbers. why am i pinching myself? because i am not backed by a publishing house machine. i only submitted redacted to one publisher. i’m not much into submitting my work to third parties. i’ve done this in the past and have received my fair share of both the acceptance and rejection letters. “why middleman/woman this?” i asked myself. the more i thought about it, i came to make the conscious decision to go the ani-difranco-style independent route. why? to have more freedom in the book planning process and complete creative control over my work. i own the copyright. that’s liberating.

redacted charted on a few amazon bestseller lists since coming out easter sunday. it peaked at #5 on the lgbtq+ poetry new releases chart and #32 for all lgbtq+ poetry, old and new. for new release poetry in the u.s., all genres, it held the #17 rank. to my surprise and delight, not only did redacted make the charts, it stayed on them. i am truly humbled by and thankful for all that have supported me and this book. now comes the feedback and reviews. i look forward to hearing and reading them. be gentle, haha.

xx

derick

redacted is born

redacted is live.

finally.

the last few days have been a smorgasbord of emotions for me. most obvious of these was excitement, but there were also pangs of anxiousness and dread at the thought of being so vulnerable and honest. i imagine most writers and creatives feel this ambivalence on the eve of sharing their work with the world.

ultimately, i hope these poems produce goosebumps. i hope they resonate with and creatively stoke those that read them. they may not for all, but i hope they do for most.

here’s to hoping.

xx

derick