iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by aɐrik francis

Sundress Publications @sundresspub.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

We are excited to announce the launch of a new fundraising campaign centered on a simple idea: writers helping writers. Learn more at: sundress-publications.square.site/p…

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The Word | A Storytelling Sanctuary @wordisdiversity.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Join us to close out our storytelling festival by helping us celebrate The Word's first publication Now Is the Time. Our collection includes Colorado State Poet Laureate Crisosto Apache, Adams County Poet Laureate Aerik Francis, Aurora Poet Laureate Ahja Fox and a diverse line-up of Colorado poets.

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

good news, i just got more copies of my 2nd chapbook bad news, it's now sold out and these are the last copies ever, the end of an era

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

wow, MISEDUCATION is officially sold out the end of an era! Well sorta– hoping to get the audio/album done by the end of the year so that it can still be listened to

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

an older white guy in biker atire & helmet gets on the bus. i cannot quite explain the shock i experienced in seeing, after taking the helmet off, that he was wearing a durag 😲 oh Boulder, CO you never fail to surprise me 😵‍💫

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

ooo thank you for this, i am unfamiliar and i liked the poems i saw when i looked him up

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

tbh the only poet that comes to mind is Darius Simpson

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

i know i ask this all the time, but do you know of a political page poet who does *not* exclusively write docu-poems? Every so-called "political poet" I can think of is either a spoken word poet, a docu-poet, or they died and had their "political poems" published post-humously

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

speaking of, all the locations that I had hoped would take my poetry manuscript last year have come back with form rejections. in this 5 year submission journey, I've basically given up all hope and now I'm submitting everywhere recklessly until I can get to a point where I self-publish

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Learning that my chapbook MISEDUCATION is reaching the end of its print run. just as quickly as they came, all of my chapbooks will soon be unavailable. it would be cool to collect each chap into one book, though, I'd hate for that to be my "first book". so it'd have to come after the "first book"

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

went to the CO history museum yesterday and wow i am just so angry and disgusted about the Sand Creek Massacre. i knew before but learning the details just make it all so so so awful

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

saw a guy run off the bus toward Runners Roost

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

thinking about this because i was considering trying to read The Odessey and began wondering about translations... translators really make or break a work. When I first read Nicolas Guillen in English i was like "ehhh this is meh" and then i read his work in Spanish and was like OMG! 🤩🤩🤩🤯🤯🤯

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

this is random, but i was thinking about how a few years ago i was reading and enjoying Mary Jo Bang's translation of The Inferno until Eric Cartman from South Park showed up in Canto VI and it kinda ruined the illusion/fun for me and I stopped reading 🥴

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

by guitar eras of artists in talking also about kelela and pain gain (kllo) and girlfriend, wife (kacy hill) and vince staples and mmj (purity ring) and kiss facility (sega bodega) and there's prolly more

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

surprise surprise, i like the new charli xcx album– it's fun and irreverant. it's not brat at all and yet it's so brat. it's avoidant yet vulnerable been enjoying all the guitar eras of artists because it's like going back to basics while also building on / moving forward from their discographies

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

been writing a few commissioned poems lately I dislike writing on a deadline, but actually, I think the poems turned out pretty good! I'd much rather share work I've already written, but that said, ya know, if you need a commissioned poem, keep me in mind 😉

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

I've been so honored and blessed to be able to share my poetry accompanied by a variety of musicians this year– I have my electronic poetry album, my collab with guitarist Angie Ráfaga, as well as a jazz show and a baroque show. & soon, full orchestral accompaniment, original to my poems!

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

it's wild how so many of my favorite electronic musicians were like, okay it's time for a guitar phase. (granted, I think it is a kind of response to the electronic takeover of music [from ai to algorithms to autotune, etc]) Shit, even me phaentompoet.bandcamp.com/track/reason...

phaentompoet.bandcamp.com

Reasons Why I Left, by phaentompoet + Angie Ráfaga

track by phaentompoet + Angie Ráfaga

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

this was such a minor part of the series, but never have ever i seen a stronger case to divest from google, because a simple subpoena could result in all your info going to into law enforcement's hands in an instant

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

fascinated by the Reckless Ben and Bricks and Minifigs youtube series because I think it shows the horrific truth of the current USAmerican justice system, from cops to judges and their biased relationship to corporations #BrickByBrick

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

like the first time I read that sentence, I thought it was a joke/funny remark, but the longer i linger on it, the deeper and more real it becomes on so many levels, but particularly a national/societal level

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

related, i'm always thinking about this quote from the essay "Self Help" by Morgan Parker in her book _You Get What You Pay For_ "I’m a poet who’s never experienced true romantic love; I believe this is an American tragedy."

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

finally finished The Boyfriend season 2. between that and Heated Rivalry, been consuming a lot of shows with queer joy and it makes my heart happy even as i simulatenously reflect on how the usa sucks

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

it was telling me about wildfires, turns out

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

what if my drag name was faeri krancis

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Teri V @terivela.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

@fifthwheelpress.bsky.social published my microchap Triforce Sonnets for their June Pride series ✨💕🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️💕 and you can download it here for free. Any tips that I get through the website will go to The Sameer Project ❤️🇵🇸❤️ ko-fi.com/s/d7f55a0b9b

ko-fi.com

Pride Series #14: Triforce Sonnets by Teri Vela - fifth wheel press's Ko-fi Shop

The fourteenth title in the fifth wheel press 2026 Pride Microchapbook Series. Teri Vela (she/her) is a queer Latina poet, mother, and former public ...

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

just got interviewed for an up&coming lit mag and the way i was throwing down CITATIONS made me remember exactly how much i read and learned during my time in grad skool even if i don't have a grad degree to ~legitimize~ it

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

whatever it was saying, it made me cry on my walk home it felt like gratitude, but it also felt like mourning it felt like being seen, but it also came with the wondering of all that is simultaneously witnessed

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

every especially cool poetry event i do, afterward, the moon speaks to me not sure what it tells me, but it always calls out and grabs my attention

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

tonight i get to read some queer as fuck poems accompanied by a baroque ensemble the harpischord player will be in drag merry Pride ✨🌈

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

i mean probably the first one tbh

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

idk what's worse, that i saw a waymo in denver or that a human was driving it

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

so i found some writing I did about the anime Death Note that I forgot about until now and I was like "dang, this is wild and good. I'm smart!" So now I have to edit it into an essay and submit it out

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

my personal favorite: the word "spirit" began as onomatopoeia from the sound of breathing, respiration. I also wrote an obscene poem called "Farts Poetica" after learning the word "fart" in most languages (including English) is onomatopoeia www.interimpoetics.org/384/aerik-fr...

interimpoetics.org

Aerik Francis — Interim

1 poem & 2 excerpts Chapter: Book, an excerpt from Booked Now imagine a lifetime of books. Books of l...

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

it's cool to think about how words in other languages begin as onomatopoeia and then end up in English decontextualized. Examples: the French word "cliché" has its origins in the sound of printing a stereotype. Or like the pokemon Pikachu, where "pika" is thunder in Japanese, from the sound

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

honestly it's a new thing for me too, but i love it. I have poems where i hiss and make gnawing noises. I have a poem where i make slurping sounds. I have poems where i clap at the word thunder. I have a poem where I snap at the word "ignite" a la Colonel Mustang

static.klipy.com

Fullmetal Alchemist Roy Mustang Finger Heart

ALT: Fullmetal Alchemist Roy Mustang Finger Heart

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

i think my next poetry workshop is gonna be on onomatopoeia. It's one of the first things we learn about poetry, so it's made to seem childish. But not only is the etymology of many words [surprisingly] onomatopoeia/ the sound it makes, but it is also a great device to elevate spoken performance

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

do you think a publisher would be down to publish a full length that is just my 3 chapbooks combined? is this the same or different than a "collected" book/anthology?

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Super excited for this. I did a version of this workshop in person a few years ago in Albuquerque, New Mexico on farm land (shoutout to Ashokra Farm) and it was so much fun. Excited for the possibilities of doing this virtually

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ALOCASIA @alocasiamag.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Free tickets are now available for the fourth installation of the ALOCASIA Summer Creative Writing Workshop Series, led in August by Aerik Francis! RSVP on Eventbrite to reserve your spot! www.eventbrite.com/e/alocasia-p...

Aerik Francis & ALOCASIA present

TOOL//SHED: Queering Digital EcoPoetry

Aug 22 3pm EST FREE Virtual on Zoom

TOOL//SHED: QUEERING DIGITAL ECOPOETRY aims to closely examine the complex relationships among queerness, technology, and nature through poetry. What would it mean to reckon with technology until it ceases? How do we go about writing ecopoetry that is also attuned to the place/presence/development of technology, a concept that has been position not only counter to "nature" but to actively in practice pollute and destroy "nature?"

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ALOCASIA @alocasiamag.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Free tickets are now available for the third installation of the ALOCASIA Summer Creative Writing Workshop Series, led in July by Seelai Karzai! RSVP on Eventbrite to reserve your spot! www.eventbrite.com/e/postapocal...

Seelai Karzai and ALOCASIA present Postapocalyptic Beings at the Beginning of the World, a poetry writing workshop. July 18th at 3pm, Free, Virtual on Zoom.

What can forests, swamps, grasslands, and wildlife inhabiting the earth show us about surviving exile, displacement, rootlessness, and the persistence of being? We will read and discuss a variety of poems by Franny Choi, Ross Gay, Rajiv Mohabir, and others. In this generative writing workshop, we will also have guided poetry prompts inspired by examples from our reading selections and quiet writing time to produce new poems that map out our postapocalyptic psyches.

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CODEPINK @codepink.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Since September, the US has killed at least 202 civilians in boats in the Caribbean and Pacific. These are all war crimes.

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

nice article about the local poetry scene persisting despite the closures of a number of spaces and an updated open mic list www.westword.com/arts-culture...

westword.com

Denver venues are closing, but open mics prevail

The Pearl's recent closure signals changes in Denver's open mic scene, but there are still plenty of them around.

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

and from my welcome reception. like i said, I think these videos are so cool, it's cool to continue sharing these moments youtu.be/lppe1JiEH6s?...

youtu.be

Welcome Aerik Francis, Adams County Poet Laureate

YouTube video by Adams County CO Government

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aɐrik francis @phaentompoet.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

the first open mic (we've since had our 2nd and are prepping for number 3 in august!) youtu.be/KiKTHguwI3o?...

youtu.be

Adams County Poet Laureate Open Mic

YouTube video by Adams County CO Government

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