Event Report: Easy Sunday Poetry at BGSQD

My recent reading at the Bureau of General Queer Services (BGSQD) was something I will carry with me for a long time. I want to thank Greg and Donnie from BGSQD for creating such a welcoming and intentional space for queer writers and readers. It is always a joy to be surrounded by shelves filled with our stories, to read among them, and to add our voices to the chorus they hold. If you're reading this, please support them.

I was honored to share the mic with Anthony DiPietro, a poet whose work radiates empathy and craft in equal measure. Reading alongside Anthony was a gift and a reminder of the power of poetry to hold both tenderness and truth at once.

The afternoon was made even more meaningful by the presence of Kate Leland, to whom my collection Brotherful is dedicated, along with her late brother, Brady. Kate read a poem about her brother, a moment of grace and reflection that felt like a conversation between our losses, between her brother and mine. To stand in that shared space of remembrance and love was profoundly moving.

Thank you to everyone who attended, who listened, and who leaned in. Your presence made the room glow.

A special shout-out to Brooklyn artist J. Morrison, whose visual art project HOMOCATS, connecting the feline with politics and queer culture, provided the vibrant and witty backdrop for the reading. The artwork set the perfect tone: playful, defiant, deeply queer, and alive.

Events like this, full of support and connection and chosen family, remind me why we do this, why we gather, why we tell stories, and why we keep making art for each other.