2023 was both successful and tumultuous for me as a freelance writer, but I managed to write several fantastic pieces for various sites and get a few poems published as well.

2023 Poetry Publications

“Black + Nerd = Blerd”– The Bitchin’ Kitsch Vol. 14 issue 2 (page 16 of the PDF)- An ode to the term “Blerd” and some the Black sci-fi and fantasy authors and comic book characters that shaped me.

“Old Soul, Young Heart”– The Daily Drunk, Studio Ghibli week- A tribute to my two favorite Studio Ghibli anime films, Howl’s Moving Castle and Whisper of the Heart.

Illyana Rasputin Teaches Me Creation Magic– A poem inspired by the X-Men character Illyana Rasputin, specifically the comic book storylines “What If Magik?” from Marvel’s “What If” series and “The Labors of Magik” from Marvel’s New Mutants Vol. 3

Best Freelance Writing of 2023

Who Is Silk? Diving Into The Spider-Man Spin-off Character Before Her Amazon Prime Show– Marvel Comics’ Silk is one of my favorite comic book characters and I had fun doing this primer on her character for Popverse when her Amazon Prime show was announced.

Legends Are Never Forgotten In ‘The Secret History of Black Punk’– A review for Comics XF of a comic book zine dedicated to lesser known Black punk rock musicians.

Blue Reflection Second Light Was The Gay Magical Girl Version of Persona I Needed– An essay for Gayming Mag on how the video game Blue Reflection Second Light cater more to my gaming needs than most of the games from the Persona franchise.

National Poetry Month Spotlight: Novels In Verse– A Brain Mill Press blog post that I wrote for National Poetry Month discussing Black young adult novels in verse.

Somali Singer Idman Talks R&B, Musical Roots, and Black Queerness– An Into More interview I did of rising Somali R&B singer Idman.

CBC 2023 Searchlight Winner Mattmac Teams With Mariame On New Inspiring Single ‘Find My Love’ Encouraging Dream Chasers Everywhere– This year was my first year writing music press releases for music publicist Eric Alper. Out of all the ones I’ve done, this one was one of the most enjoyable as I got to spotlight Indigenous and disabled voices.