ari b. cofer
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aribcofer.com
ari b. cofer
@aribcofer.com
740 followers 620 following 120 posts
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
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aribcofer.com
ari b. cofer @aribcofer.com · Nov 13
hello i have yet to do a formal intro post —

• i’m ari (she/they), 29
• i’m a 2x pubbed poet who proudly considers the start of my writing career to be my 1D fanfic days on tumblr
• cancer ☀️, aquarius 🌙, virgo ⬆️
• i just finished/am querying my first novel, a coming of age story abt friendship !
🫶🏽
aribcofer.com
kendrick came on shuffle the second i touched down in LA. this feels like a positive omen for AWP
March 26, 2025 at 10:50 PM
aribcofer.com
meta is pushing me to chat with AI narcissist therapist or AI egg :/
March 23, 2025 at 6:36 PM
aribcofer.com
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” 🙂‍↕️
Are You Trying to Get Pregnant l ari b. cofer once, at nineteen, before gerald and i could afford Plan B, i took seven birth control pills and almost passed out on the walk home. gerald carried me up the stairs and tucked me into bed. if i were ever to get pregnant, i would have wanted it to have been in that moment, in the texas pressure cooker heat, on my twin-sized bed. i would have asked him to fuck me again, this time, for real, because i would have loved being a parent if all it meant to be a mother was to love someone enough to carry them home.
March 16, 2025 at 1:31 PM
aribcofer.com
rly wanna watch the perks of being a wallflower tonight but that feels like self harm
March 5, 2025 at 12:48 AM
aribcofer.com
new piece out today with Everscribe Magazine 🫶🏽
a screenshot of the poem “if i see the priest now, maybe forgiveness can help me forget” by ari b. cofer, published in everscribe magazine
March 1, 2025 at 11:38 PM
aribcofer.com
ten years of being in love with my valentine
February 14, 2025 at 9:16 PM
aribcofer.com
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
a photo collage of quotes and other images of friends together from pinterest
February 13, 2025 at 2:07 AM
aribcofer.com
apply!!!
cgcpoems.bsky.social Caitlin Conlon @cgcpoems.bsky.social · Feb 10
@aribcofer.com & I are thrilled to announce our next retreat, INTERROGATION, is happening this August in Grand Island, New York. FAQ & more are at this link!! www.unearthwritingretreats.com/interrogatio...
PRESENTED BY UNEARTH WRITING RETREATS YOU'RE INVITED TO THE INTERROGATION RETREAT AUGUST 15-17, 2025 GRAND ISLAND, NEW YORK AT THE ALT NATURE PRESERVE & CENTER JOIN US FOR POETRY WORKSHOPS, LIVELY DISCUSSIONS, SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY, & MORE, WITH ARI B. COFER & CAITLIN CONLON apply now at unearthwritingretreats.com When a person sits down to write, there are familiar wells they tend to draw from. These wells are different for everyone, and can look like anything; your family history, the beautiful image you saw on your walk yesterday, or your fears for the future are all examples. But what happens when you allow yourself to sink down to the bottom of the well? What would you find if you dug underneath? Welcome to the Interrogation Retreat, a retreat that challenges writers to interrogate where their poems are truly coming from and teaches how to bring the heart of their ideas to the surface. By the end of this three-day retreat, facilitated by Ari B. Cofer and Caitlin Conlon, writers will leave with a greater understanding of why they write in the first place and how to engage with their own work in a meaningful way. If you're a writer that feels stuck in a rut, a writer looking to delve deeper into their craft, a writer looking to experiment and grow their work in a safe, supportive community, or a combination of the three, the Interrogation Retreat is for you. picture of ari & caitlin :)
February 12, 2025 at 4:05 AM
aribcofer.com
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 :/
February 6, 2025 at 1:33 AM
aribcofer.com
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
Before I understood the gravity of someone else's touch, sex was something of a game to me. In undergrad, the boys in the dorm across the street had a list of places they hoped to fuck before the end of the year, and I was more than happy to help them meet their goals. In the bookstore parking garage? Check. On a piano in the music hall practice rooms? I'll deny it. In the chapel? Couldn't ever get past the chaplain. I've spent a lot of time unpacking why it felt like the first time I had autonomy over my body was when it was praised by a man who, if I'd met him just one year earlier, would have been considered a predator. Sex can be a way to reclaim your body in the same way that it can be a quick way to lose it. Looking back, it feels like I achieved both that day — I allowed myself to feel good, and I was consumed entirely by a man who wanted something young and vulnerable. I think a lot about my 18-year-old self, who wanted nothing more than to be wanted and would patiently wait for anyone who asked them to. There was a fine line between liberation and self-harm, between pleasure and danger. For all the experiences that I consented to, I can't say I regret them. It was fun to feel something, to let someone feel my body, and to help others feel something because of what my body could do. But today, sometimes I still feel sore from the work it took to walk that tightrope and not fall onto the wrong side of the bed. I kiss my husband and my friends and remind myself that it is okay to give myself to others as long as I remember to keep parts of myself for myself, too.
February 5, 2025 at 6:24 PM
aribcofer.com
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
February 4, 2025 at 6:42 AM
Reposted by ari b. cofer
mollytempleton.com
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.
January 24, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Reposted by ari b. cofer
sifill.bsky.social
My MLK day piece is up.
open.substack.com/pub/sherrily...
It Is MLK Day. Do Not Despair. This Year Especially, We Have Work To Do.
With delicious anticipation, we imagined it.
open.substack.com
January 20, 2025 at 1:58 AM
aribcofer.com
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
January 16, 2025 at 4:42 AM
aribcofer.com
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 (?)
January 15, 2025 at 3:52 PM
aribcofer.com
new poem in @shopoetryjournal.bsky.social 💕
January 12, 2025 at 10:14 PM
aribcofer.com
2017 (BA) // 2025 (MFA) 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️
a photo of poet ari b. cofer on the baylor university campus in their graduation regalia a photo of poet ari b. cofer on the randolph college campus in their graduation regalia
January 12, 2025 at 1:19 PM
aribcofer.com
i got my masters degree

(ari b. cofer, mfa 🙂‍↕️)
January 8, 2025 at 4:30 AM
aribcofer.com
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…”
January 3, 2025 at 6:01 PM
aribcofer.com
excerpts from todays substack that manifested after listening to Growing Up Is Hard by Chelsea Cutler on loop for 2 hours
December 30, 2024 at 9:31 PM
Reposted by ari b. cofer
laconicicon.bsky.social
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.
December 29, 2024 at 2:27 PM
aribcofer.com
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
December 29, 2024 at 4:09 AM
aribcofer.com
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
December 28, 2024 at 7:26 PM
aribcofer.com
i love being a writer. like i just be writing stories and shit
December 28, 2024 at 6:27 AM
aribcofer.com
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
December 27, 2024 at 8:56 AM