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Holding Assaracus In My Hands


I’m holding the proof copy of Assaracus Issue 26 in my hands right now. It’s heavy in the best way, and it's alive, humming, electric. This journal has always been about refusing silence, and this return issue might be the strongest thing we’ve ever put together.


For those of you who’ve been with me since the beginning, you know Assaracus never played it safe. From 2012–2016, it was the only print journal in the world publishing exclusively gay poetry. We took chances, built community, and proved that our voices, raw, unapologetic, and queer as queer can get, belonged on the page. Walk in any bookstore and you'll see names that first appeared in Assaracus. Even Oprah gets it, right Ocean? (See Issue 08, and our first Pushcart win.)


Now, after nearly a decade, we’re back. And this time the lens is wider: not just gay, but queer. I wanted to crack open the definition, to make space for more of us, to honor the lineages we come from and the directions we’re going.


Inside Issue 26, you’ll find the same formula that made Assaracus unique: a selection of ten-ish poems by ten poets: Chen Chen at his most tender and sly, Megan Volpert cutting sharp as a knife, Daniel Diamond resurrected from the AIDS era with poems that burn, Amir Rabiyah mapping trans resilience, Baruch Porras-Hernandez loud, hilarious, and hot as hell, Andrew Hahn wrestling with God, Mattie Frye pulling the South through survival, Ian Young reminding us where we came from, Anthony DiPietro chasing ecstasy, and Jack Drago conjuring lust and ritual. And I’m back in there too, because this is family, and I couldn’t sit out any longer. I've added a feature called "Bryan's Poem," because one thing I've realized: I am Assaracus, and I am Sibling Rivalry Press. In the quiet space of the last few years, I've learned to own that. But here's the thing: You are Assaracus and SRP, too. You complete the equation.


This isn’t polite poetry. This isn’t gentle. This isn’t for tenure. It’s for tenacity. It’s a book. It’s an anthology. It’s revolution and resistance. It’s fire in our hands.


We’re not opening subscriptions just yet, but Issue 26 is up for pre-order now. Twenty bucks. Worth every cent. I promise. Copies ship at the end of October.


Now more than ever, with queer books being banned, voices silenced, and communities under attack, we need this. We need poetry that disturbs and enraptures, poetry that refuses erasure. If you’ve missed us, we’ve missed you more.


This is the return of Assaracus. Join us.


 
 
 

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