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one that I get to share with old friends Linda (we gotta keep meeting like this) Teri Clarke (Zin), Zig-Zag, and new friends Danian Darrell Jerry and others, with a DOPE AF cover by Jabari Weathers.

It was a poem of deep need. Thank you to DaVaun Sanders and the crew at FIYAH for giving Sis’ Bouki: the Hyena Gifts a second home,

It dove tailed with my mood and the West African research I happened to be doing at the time for my novel on submission, Burn it All Down.

Then FIYAH asked for reprints (was it Mel Watkins or Clarence Young who told me about it? Maurice Broaddus?). I sent them this one, because of all the poems I'd written in the last couple years, this one was closest to my heart.

I wrote him another story The Hyena and the Rhino and we co-wrote a different poem, #GANGGANG. But I sent the first one to the Magazine of F&SF (before they were sold to Must Read), where Sheree Renée Thomas promptly bought it.

I wrote the poem, showed it to Romie Faienza (I think?), Claire Suzanne Elizabeth Cooney, and Linda D Addison as I was writing it, to make sure I was on the right path. But when I sent it to Jamal, he reminded me that it was supposed to be a co-written poem with him! Oops.

But then it hit me: I absolutely NEEDED to write my way out of this depression.

Jamal showed me the list of animals that was left and I didn't need but a second to choose. "Give me the hyenas."

Jamal Hodge emailed me and asked if I wanted write a story for his horror anthology Bestiary of Blood where each author wrote a fucked up fable about a particular animal. At first I said thanks but no, I wasn't in the right headspace to be creative.

Feels more like a late Mel Brooks musical.

To get this joke, you have to be old enough to know what a hanging Chad is.

I'll let you know. Soon as they finish that fusion reactor.