A photographer’s view of ICE’s relentless courthouse arrests The shattering of faith in America's goodness is the hardest part to watch.

"The shattering of faith in America’s goodness is the hardest part to watch."

Aerik Francis — underblong

Also! Here is a review I wrote of Meca'Ayo's book, an identity polyptych

www.underblong.com/aerik-francis

A Conversation with Adam’s County Poet Laureate Aerik Francis — Colorado Poetry Calendar I conducted this first interview with Aerik Francis, Adam’s County’s second poet laureate, over text between March 18, 2026 and March 29th. I was excited to talk with Aerik about their upcoming events...

sharing an interview here that I did recently with Meca'Ayo Cole, who is such a cool artist!!! we talked about freedom making in poetry, music, and my new chapbook

www.coloradopoetrycalendar.org/blog/aerik-f...

has anyone else observed this or is it just me?

and what do we think, is this public information or private for family/loved ones only?

how similar is it to asking how much money you make? asked differently, what kind of politics are at play here in the inclusion/omission of info?

i am guilty of this too in having to write one myself, but contemporary obituaries never seem to invlude cause of death. there are many people who i know who have passed on but nobody seems to know how or why

i get not wanting to be reduced down to the cause, but now there are questions lingering

Adams County Poet Laureate Open Mic with Aerik Francis Join Adams County Poet Laureate Aerik Francis for their quarterly open mic. Poets of all ages, abilities and experience levels are invited to share original work in this warm, supportive community spa...

omg does this count as me being published by poets.org? (no but it's still cool that they shared the event!!)

poets.org/event/adams-...

Photo w caption: A person flees after throwing a homemade explosive device during a protest organized by far-right influencer Jake Lang in front of Mayor Zohran Mamdani's official residence on Saturday. Charly Triballeau / AFP - Getty Images

NBC - Two arrested and two IEDs seized as right wingers hold an anti-Islam demo outside Gracie Mansion today during Ramadan. Not immediately known if Mayor Mamdani was home.

www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

Today we observed six shackled detainees being loaded onto the ICE Air flight at MSP. They're heading to El Paso, where conditions are so horrific, staff gamble on who the next prisoner to commit suicide will be.

The man walking from right to left at the beginning of the clip is dragging shackles.

The burning oil refinery in Tehran tonight.

This ancient city of 10 million people is being annihilated by the US and Israel.

(🎥 BBC Verify)

BREAKING: The US has bombed Tehran’s main refinery and burning oil is now flooding down the streets into the city’s sewers.

This is a vision from hell, unleashed by the US tonight.

(🎥 Vahid Online)

so disgusted with all the destruction, cruelty, and death my country is responsible for

nobody seems to like my music but me, but i like my music a lot, and i know i have good taste, so there's that

i applied to UMS again

lmao it's like, fat chance! still had to try

A lot of people, including me, were wondering how an IRB could ever approve this study.

The answer is that no IRB did. The person who “signed off” on approval from the only ethics board that reviewed it had resigned three years earlier. His signature was used without his knowledge.

i know posting on this app doesn't mean much when i barely interact with anyone on here and don't even know who i'm talking to, but i gotta at least try. besides, it's you, dear reader reading right now, i'm talking to you. hello ! ✨🌱

Body Poetics: A Poetry Workshop | Abode Press Led by Aerik Francis, this generative writing workshop is an invitation to check in with our bodies and consider our bodies alongside our writing.

and if you are looking to write more poetry this year and need a boost, i am facilitating a virtual poetry workshop with Abode Press on March 15 on Body Poetics

get tickets here

www.abodepress.com/events-1/bod...

AWP Offsite Event: Radical Futures: An Empowering Evening of Poetry & Prose | Abode Press Join Abode Press, Sundress Publications, Honey Literary, and 9 powerhouse writers for an evening of poetry and prose on radical futures.

if you are going to AWP this year you can hear me read from my new chapbook BODYPOLITIC for the first time (and get your own copy) at this offsite event with Abode, Sundress, and Honey Lit

www.abodepress.com/events-1/awp...

BODYPOLITIC by Aerik Francis | Abode Press BODYPOLITIC by Aerik Francis is the second chapbook in Abode's 2025-2026 lineup and is officially available for pre-order! All orders will be shipped by mid March. There are only 100 copies of this ch...

Cover reveal and preorder link are now up for my new poetry chapbook, BODYPOLITIC, out March 1 with Abode Press
www.abodepress.com/product-page...

Thank you to @clmporg.bsky.social for featuring beestung bee-loveds S*an D. Henry-Smith and Aerik Francis in this roundup!

To celebrate Black History Month, we're sharing selections from our anthology INFINITE CONSTELLATIONS! Get 30% off & free shipping for all our books this month with code BHM at checkout! www.uapress.ua.edu/978157366198...

To explore more work by Aerik Francis: www.phaentompoet.com

Libraries are among the few public institutions that represent the kind of world we want to live in. They must be fought for.

We cannot normalize this federal occupation of Minneapolis.

It is not normal to watch people abducted in front of our eyes—dragged from car windows, pulled from their homes, and children left without parents.

This is not about immigration. It’s about unchecked cruelty.

My comfort with uncertainty and the knowledge that uncertainty is not synonymous with chaos are helping to ground me.

Piecemeal, by phaentompoet from the album PRXPAGANDA

So much so that I wrote my own poem after it. So much so that I took the poem and made it a song
phaentompoet.bandcamp.com/track/piecem...

anywho, I'm always thinking of this poem www.shadeliteraryarts.org/single-post/...

I mean, it's not like the Nobel Prize was a super legitimate thing to begin with, given its vast history of gifting peace prizes to war criminals. But if it had an legitimacy before, certainly now no more

ever since i started watching Heated Rivalry I've been writing really sweet poems. it's rather bittersweet because i'd rather the poems be slutty and horny, but whatever, i'll take these bittersweet sweet poems (and actually, not even saccharine, they are not-too-sweet bittersweet sweet poems)

at first he followed me for two blocks asking for fentanyl, but when i got inside the space, he switched up and tried to suggest that i was an "illegal"

of all the drugs, white supremacy is truly a hell of a drug

a random white guy followed me yesterday and harassed me for ID, suggesting that I was "not from Colorado"

luckily I was in a space where i had folks to come to my aid and get that man out of the space, but it was very very weird and concerning

I just finished The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor and I just think that if you read that book and also my chapbook MISEDUCATION, you'll be thoroughly convinced to never pursue grad skool 😅