ari b. cofer
@aribcofer.com
poet, novelist, recovering sad person (she/they) 🌿paper girl and the knives that made her (central ave, 2022) 🌿unfold (central ave, 2023) 🌿randolph mfa alum
my dearest @aribcofer.com asked me to write a love letter for their readers about what kept me alive in july—this strange achey glimmer of a month, cough drop sweet, possible as a piano. here it is, with part of a poem from ‘portrait of my body as a crime i’m still committing’ ☀️
kendrick came on shuffle the second i touched down in LA. this feels like a positive omen for AWP
meta is pushing me to chat with AI narcissist therapist or AI egg :/
new poem out with anodyne mag — would love if people stopped the “when are you having babies” question so i can stop saying “i can’t” 🙂↕️
rly wanna watch the perks of being a wallflower tonight but that feels like self harm
In WHAT ABOUT FRANKIE?, Naomi finds a platonic soulmate in the boy next door until circumstance forces the two to grow up, grow without, and decide if history is enough to continue to grow together. ☀️ Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret x We Are All So Good at Smiling ☀️ Black/queer rep #questpit
it’s wild to finally have the confidence to say that i am proud of the things i write. like, i am loving my work lately. turns out not making self deprecating jokes every hour does in fact help :/
wrote about my relationship to sex over on substack + how complicated it can be when hypersexuality mixes with depression. sometimes it’s hard talking ab this stuff but i also know it is so so important to be honest ab it
when leonard cohen wrote “there’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in” do you think he knew that was a bar. like do you think he sat back and was like yeah this fucks
I have a little plea and it's this: please keep posting about things that aren't The Horrors. I am not saying to not look at or be informed about The Horrors. What I am saying—what I am genuinely kind of begging you to do—is keep posting about books and movies and sunsets and pets and joy. Please.
i am capital B Begging Submittable to make an app like please give me an easier way to be strange and obsessive about my open submissions
thought i was having normal gentle morning reading time but now Sally Rooney has me unreasonably h*rny and deeply emotional at 7:49am. i thought intermezzo was about chess and grief but this nerd is making me sweaty and also curious about the human condition (?)
i got my masters degree (ari b. cofer, mfa 🙂↕️)
ari b. cofer@aribcofer.com · 2y agoi finished my thesis last night so it turns out i will be getting a masters degree (??)
my favorite thing about poets is that someone can read an instruction manual and you’ll hear at least 3 poets in the back going “mmmmmm…”
excerpts from todays substack that manifested after listening to Growing Up Is Hard by Chelsea Cutler on loop for 2 hours
I don’t like how folk are trying to read shame. If you read 100 books, awesome. If you read 10 books, awesome. Just read.
ngl it feels so good not to be so incredibly devastatingly depressed at all times anymore. like. she’s still there Do Not Get Me Wrong but i’m feeling other things now too like joy, relief, etc etc. 15 y/o me would not believe
it’s soooooo embarrassing to describe a WIP to someone who isn’t a writer like ya let me very passionately tell you about these people i made up who live in my head but they are also very real and i would die for them and everything reminds me of them but also sometimes i can’t stand them
and with that hello again bluesky i am happy to be back from this little break i have played an obscene amount of animal crossing and learned how to make a mean green chili chicken taco
took a few weeks off from querying & while the grind never stops ... friends i have to say, that break really did wonders for my noggin. this is your sign to take a break !! from drafting or querying !! your agent is out there and querymanager is not going anywhere and It Is Okay If Things Take Time
if tiktok does end up getting banned in the states, do we already have an alternative in the works? i wanna go ahead and get set up if possible🙃
Submissions for Shō No. 7 are now open • Payment is one contributor copy • We nominate for Best New Poets, Best Spiritual Lit, and the Pushcart Prize • We award $300 in prize money for best poem in issue and best poem by an emerging poet • Average response time is two weeks Reposts appreciated.
i'm having some wild ghost cramps right now — if you've had a hysterectomy (and kept your ovaries) do u experience this too at the start of your would-be cycle? it's truly like phantom limb of the uterus idk what's going on there but i still haven't gotten used to it
