Two Poems

"America the Big" and "Tell Me What It’s Like to Love Me" in Electric Literature

Hi friends,

I sold my novel HEADFIRST to Roxane Gay at the beginning of 2025. It was a huge moment for me. A dream really, because I’ve been an admirer of Roxane’s work since 2010, when I used to read her columns in HTML GIANT and THE RUMPUS. Back in the day, I subscribed to her journal PANK (it was my FAVE) and was a fan of TINY HARDCORE PRESS and her first collection, AYITI. This past year, I’ve worked with Roxane on finalizing the edits for HEADFIRST, which has been a surreal and exciting experience. I’ve learned so much, and my book has become brighter, more alive, more interesting, more nuanced, more complex. I can’t wait for you to read it someday soon.

Editing has been its own kind of creative reset. It’s a break from the pressure of the blank page. I get to dig into what’s already there. Shift it, rewrite it, carve pieces out, and without starting from scratch. It’s a part of the process I truly enjoy.

Meanwhile, I’ve been wandering into other creative practices. Comics! Poetry! (As anyone subscribed here already knows.) In January I took Shira Erlichman’s Insurreal Life poetry workshop (cannot recommend enough). I wrote so many poems during January that I now have a draft for a collection I’m calling GIRLFRIEND. This summer, I took a poetry-in-the-park class with beloved Portland poet (and my next-door neighbor) Zach Schomburg. Both were generative and connective and inspiring. What I learned this year is what so many already know: the more you make, the more you make. One creative act opens the door to the next. Editing leads to poems, poems lead to comics, comics lead back to fiction.

And now to the point of the post. A few months ago, Electric Literature published two of my poems, and I want to share them with you. I drafted these poems ages ago but I returned to them this year with new eyes. 2025 was a year of editing, truly! I’m proud of these poems, some of my first ever.

Thank you to Electric Literature’s The Commuter for publishing these. I’m grateful for their literary stewardship and all they’ve done over the years to support writers and nurture a community of readers. Right now, they’re raising money for their year-end drive. Please consider donating to support Electric Lit's fundraising campaign. The work they do is so important to the future of literature <3

Hat courtesy of beloved Morgan Parker. Read her poems!

More soon, and with so much gratitude to you for being here.

-Genevieve