iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Instead of 31 books for #theSealeyChallenge I’m reading 1 big one—Amiri Baraka’s “SOS Poems 1961-2013” I’ve long been aware of his name and importance to Black folks, but I’ve never read his work. Now feels as good a time as any to introduce myself.

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

If you’re prepping for #thesealeychallenege then perhaps you might consider adding my debut to your list

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

35 was a blast. Can’t wait to see what this next year has in store for me. Shoutouts to 36. Happy Birthday to me.

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Here’s my AWP book haul. I was so happy to get to meet many of these fantastic writers!

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

If you’re gonna be in Baltimore for AWP next week, come through and holler at me at one of my book signings. Shoutouts to @onlypoemsmag.bsky.social and @uarkpress.bsky.social for the opportunity!

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

🚨🚨COVER REVEAL🚨🚨 I am thrilled to finally be able to share this because it also means that I get to say that PRE-ORDERS ARE LIVE!!! You can hit that link in my bio and secure yourself a copy of my debut if you’re feeling froggy!!

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Here’s my second of six new poems published this week by @onlypoemsmag.bsky.social This one is featured in my forthcoming debut collection Paper Pistol Shoutouts to the incredible poet @tariqthompson.bsky.social for the inspiration.

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 24/11/2025

Shoutouts to the great & powerful folks over @onlypoemsmag.bsky.social for featuring me as the poet of the week!! You can read a fantastic interview and six new poems of mine on their site! I’ll even post one below to get you started!

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

Interior design is done. Proofs have been submitted. We are about five months away from my book baby being in the world! I’m excited to share this with you all.

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

Just turned in the FINAL edits for my book and now I’m gonna go have a good cry lol we are about six months away from my book being in the world!

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

Received my contributor copies of this year’s Best American Poetry anthology & I’m hype af!! All these amazing ass writers & lil ole me somehow in the mix. 🤣 Shoutouts to The Indiana Review for first putting this poem into the world.

Picture of my two contributor copies of The Best American Poetry 2025

Picture of the back cover featuring all of the names of the contributors to Best American Poetry 2025

First page of my poem printed in the book

Second page of my poem printed in the book

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 27/07/2025

🚨🚨🚨Ricky Rozay raps, “put Molly all in her champagne, she don’t even know it”, my poem which was originally published @cincinnatireview.bsky.social is the featured poem for today @versedaily.bsky.social !!

Screenshot of a poem on the Verse Daily website

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

🚨🚨🚨PUBLICATION NEWS!!!🚨🚨🚨 Transcendent American poet @poetpatriciasmith.bsky.social selected my debut full-length poetry collection🔫 PAPER PISTOL 🔫 as a finalist for the Miller Williams Poetry Prize. It will be released early 2026 by @uarkpress.bsky.social I am excited af!!!

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Having work situated alongside the work of Billy Collins, @josehernandezdz.bsky.social & @mosababutoha.bsky.social feels surreal!! Check out the cover for the new Best American poetry anthology!! So grateful to be part of this.

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

Given the date, I feel led to share some love. So here’s my poem Love Poem no. 13, published last summer in @coloradoreview.bsky.social

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

This is the type of shit my poems are on right now & think I’m okay with it. 😂

Cropped screenshot of poem title which reads “Poem with a hopeless ending”. I cropped the photo so no one would judge me for how low my phone battery is, & because no one on the internet needs to see one of my first drafts.

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

I’m hella excited to (finally) be able to announce that my poem “Two men too man to mourn” has been selected for inclusion in the Best American Poetry 2025 anthology!! I’ve been smiling for weeks.

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Taylor said we dropping drafts today, so here we go. Here’s a sonnet inspired by the (long, long) road to the election & our nation’s habitually short memory.

A screenshot of a poem draft titled “they really almost had me. The poem is unpunctuated and reads as such:

She didn’t just fall out of a coconut tree though her ads would have you
believe something new is brewing she too exists within the context of all
that came before the shock & awe the upheavals & oustings the mother of
all bombs & all her babies the babies blown to bits the bits of shrapnel in
a refugee’s eye I swear the orange alternative being so bad I almost thought
it was 08 when press & curl took the reigns almost got fishhooked into smiling
till the good homie say we mustn’t forget the point of the role the work of the job
the aim of the sights: most lethal fighting force in the world a healthcare system
that kills us slower qualified immunity gentrified communities yes this tea is cold
i know the news is old the song long & bloody & on repeat but sometimes I need
to be reminded how they do & don’t who they will & won’t let pursue happiness
I can’t believe I almost got caught up in the glee again became again what I was
then gullible & giddy & rapping like Jeezy revving my hooptie’s engine like a
Lamborghini its sad really all it takes is a lesser devil to make us sigh with relief

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 17/12/2024

One of my favorite Alan Chazaro poems.

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 08/12/2024

This poem just rocked my socks. “For them the word home must be home enough. // My nation rests its feet on little graves…”😮‍💨 The Yale review always publishes the best shit.

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Let try it out. I’d love some engagement lol

“Get to know my writing. For every like, I will post one piece I wrote.”

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

I love this poem so much, it’s always in my head. Shoutouts to the Indiana Review for making space for my poem about grief & foolish masculinity Give it a repost if you dig it!

Picture of a poem titled “Two men too man to mourn” which reads as follows, “All the books say
when your best friend’s mama die, you ain’t got no parents
neither.”

— Camonghne Felix

We are in Detroit, seven years ago,
hiding in my whip, two grown ass men,
full on ugly crying—all snotty.
We left da homie’s momma’s funeral
halfway into her eulogy, hearts too soft
to be seen, despite the bruisings’ cause
laying in a gold casket, in a sanctuary filled
with more bruised hearts. Bruh had a square to share.
We inhale prickly exhaust hoping for calmer nerves
that never come, thank God every hood-church stands
around 200 feet from a liquor store. We don’t break a sweat
click-clacking across the street in our wingtips to fetch some leaves
to roll gas, & our bottles of expected masculinity. We had no jokes
to trade for laughs, so we got slapped to keep from weeping as we
circled the block. Swerving back into the church parking lot
for the repast, we do not speak. Sloshing & swallowing the only sounds
as we swap swigs of brown smolder between puffs of flower.
This is how we man up. This is how we show love to our dearly departed,
by taking into ourselves that which would have brought shame
in their living. We make libation liberation to escape what calls us to mourn
in the most human ways: a salt-wet face, gushing like a ruptured dam,
no longer able to hold back the flood of sobs & spit. With all the griefs
sure to come, our livers won’t survive this manhood long, but it’s the only house
we have blueprints for. Full of whiskey’s holy ghost, we walk
back into the church, right feet slowly turning into left ones. No elder questions
our wobbling or sour-mash sweat. One auntie, mascara mudsliding down
her cheeks, just nods knowingly, & then points us to the buffet. We make
our plates, eat the yardbird, sop the gravy & try our best to forget how to cry.

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Ralph Jenkins @ralpheeboi.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Despite the exodus, the good folks over at Wildness mag are still championing their contributors on twitter. Check out my poem “Abandoned House” on their site if you’re feeling froggy! readwildness.com/35/jenkins-h...

Screenshot of a tweet that features a line from my poem “Abandoned House” published recently in Wildness Magazine. The photo reads “I recall a night when the cries were sharp enough to slice through even practiced sleep” Taken from issue number 35 of Wildness

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