CNF

"White Woman Freedom" [CNF] in Identity Theory

She told me to eat, pray, live, laugh, and love. To be #Blessed. To appropriate dances like no one was watching the Black girls on TikTok. To vision board the fridge and every wall, with inspirational quotes giving no credit to the Black women on Instagram. Stolen, like their hair, lips, ass, and tan.

As Paul Mooney said, “Everybody wants to be a nigger, but nobody wants to be a nigger.”


My creative nonfiction piece “White Woman Freedom” was published in Identity Theory.

"Explaining 'the patron saint of suicide'" published in Nixes Mate

My creative nonfiction piece “Explaining ‘the patron saint of suicide’” was published in Nixes Mate Review.

As the title suggests, this is an essay that braids the stories of

  1. writing the poem “the patron saint of suicide” (originally published in Cola Literary Review, but also appearing in said the Frog to the scorpion),

  2. how well I disassociate while doing poetry readings, and

  3. a night when I didn’t disassociate while reading “the patron saint of suicide.”

"Perspective" published in After the Art

I wrote a poem entitled “notice five things” (which is currently a finalist for the 2024 Beals Prize for Poetry (more on that later) based on my visits to art museums while composing a manuscript in progress. I also wrote a creative nonfiction version of the events (sort of, kind of), which was just published in After the Art.

“Perspective” is now out in the world.

Guest Post for AGFCG Card Talk Series

I have a guest blog post for A Game for Good Christians’ Card Talk series entitled “God Planning Your Pain to Make A Point.” It employs one of my theological sonnets that appears in The Third Renunciation.

I previously had the privilege of editing AGFGC’s literary anthology This Present Former Glory: An Anthology of Honest Spiritual Literature.

If you don’t know A Game for Good Christians, imagine what you get if you crossed Cards Against Humanity with the Bible.

Type Casting in ASP Bulletin

“That’s some white people shit.”

“What?”

“Were all of the people who thought you were gay white?”

“It’s not that they thought I was gay exactly…”

“Not straight. Whatever. Were all of them white?”

“No.” I mentally scroll through faces and races. “Yes?”

“See? You don’t fit their Black-Man stereotype, other than dating white women…”

“Hey…”

“Whatever nigga: you do you. I’m just saying you don’t fit their image of what a Black man is ‘supposed’ to be. You’re not some overly masculine thug, sitting on a stoop, rocking a durag and sipping a 40. A sensitive and educated Black man, who works with kids seems femme to them. So, they assume you’re not straight.”

“No, V. That can’t be it.”

It was.

CLICK BELOW TO READ THE REST OF THE STORY

"Inscrutable": creative nonfiction in Redivider

I am honored that “Inscrutable,” a story I wrote for/about my AAPI students in response to the Atlanta Spa Shootings, was published by Redivider as their inagural Cultural Critique piece.
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Redivider 20.1 | Cover art — Tea Queen by Aaron Norfolk

He knows the myth, but he is the model minority. The all-around A-student: attentive, astute, Asian. He’s good at math and science, but also garners excellent grades and respect in my sophomore honors English class. He’s soft spoken, but thoughtful. So as the others call out, he raises his hand and waits patiently. When I acknowledge that he will be next, he lowers it back to his desk, places the other over a delicate wrist. When he does speak, on an average Wednesday, I will swear in front of a class for the first time in twenty years of teaching.

“Out of my Hands” at Zone 3

Two of my kids suffered a tragedy that changed my life. I wrote a horrible poem and a couple of songs about it that never saw the light of day.

Over a decade later, while teaching a memoir unit, I wrote a longer work about it— the first piece of prose I had written since high school. Over the next few years it saw many revisions, many suggested revisions from journal editors, many night thinking.

It’s a story I read every year in my classes. I think I’ve not cried when reading it once.

I am proud to have “Out of my Hands” appearing within the pages of Zone 3.

"Between the woods and frozen lake..." Creative Nonfiction at Barren Magazine

This story takes its title from Robert Frost’s “Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening” for many, many reasons. It was first written for my kids in class a few years ago, completing a memoir assignment alongside them.

But it was more than that.

I was sharing the burden of vulnerability in writing. An exercise in revealing without revealing. Saying something at a slant, through omission, obscured, knowing only some would see the picture clearly. Knowing that those who did see at first glance were able to because of something shared. Something unspoken, but now brought to light.

Everyone else simply saw an interesting story.

This story is dedicated to those with eyes to see and is now live at Barren Magazine



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"Holding Peace" (CNF) published at How to Pack for Church Camp

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Every once in a while I write a short story, usually based on a real experience. A work of creative non-fiction (CNF). This one has been published by How to Pack for Church Camp.

This time I decided not to include names, to protect the guilty. I know some of the guilty are reading this right now. You went to this camp. You were in the room. You said these things. Hopefully you’re a better person now.

As for my unnamed friend: all my love, B. Now and forever.