@cerena.bsky.social
Poet & prof. Author of CLOUD MISSIVES (Tin House, 2024).
Just received workshop packets for the upcoming @tinhouse.bsky.social Autumn Workshop, and I am so filled with joy and gratitude for these powerful, beautiful words. To get to work with these writers is an abolute dream. ❤️
20.10.2025 23:44 — 👍 7 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Year of the Snake Is it best to plan for the worst? Maybe the plainer sentiment is, I will be using my strongest voice from here on out. I will make much work in a familiar pattern. Assignments, invitations, my own autonomy to step behind the stanchion (a stop-gap) (a doubleness). All my life, I have feared the uncanny valley. I have feared being mistaken or a mistake. But the valley is green and full of objective facts. Blessed be the land of conception, green cards and confrontations. I receive messages from loved ones asking permission to turn off a camera during a conference call, to delay an email, to refuse a request. I try not to let the world punish them. I haven't been reading lately. Except dates. I'm so happy Mom will be able to breathe again on Wednesday, but since the fires, she’s stopped taking photos of sunsets. Last night, the air was so dry I woke up to apply expired lotion. This morning, I prepared a tray of jiffy pods. Plump with water, they’re seven times their pre-hydration size. The way I show control is so, so human. I plan for the next season. Best by dates indicate I’m doing everything late. Frequently, the sentiment is like this. I try to imagine the future.
This is one of my favorite poems I wrote this winter. It's a little messy but also one I was resistant to change? So glad @cerena.bsky.social and Poet Lore gave it a home in its current form. Every once in a while, I need to protect a sentimental poem.
06.09.2025 14:12 — 👍 10 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 1
This month we’re celebrating the work of Kenzie Allen in our “Emerging BIWOC Poet Spotlight.” Here’s a piece from her book Cloud Missives (Tin House, 2024), and you can learn more about this poet on our website (linktree in bio). @cerena.bsky.social @tinhouse.bsky.social
30.07.2025 12:09 — 👍 8 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0Congrats @cerena.bsky.social !
22.05.2025 21:58 — 👍 9 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Part of a series of Native poetry collected by Mark Turcotte.
"to hold sky, rain, all
beloved creatures born to climb.
And I, earthbound, earth-bonded,
a troth renewed with each step."
Two poems by @cerena.bsky.social. With art by Debra Yepa-Pappan.
anotherchicagomagazine.net/2025/05/13/t...
An excerpt from “In Which I Become (Skywoman)” by Kenzie Allen
A headshot of Kenzie Allen
“Today’s beautiful, incantatory poem contains a rich message of communal nurturance, how we soften each other’s fall, as we learn to acknowledge our purpose in the universe,” shares Major.
Read “In Which I Become (Skywoman)” by Kenzie Allen @cerena.bsky.social @tinhouse.bsky.social: bit.ly/4k0MmtB
It makes me so happy to see @cerena.bsky.social's gorgeous book get recognition out there in the world!
31.01.2025 17:20 — 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
💐Congratulations Kenzie Allen (@cerena.bsky.social) & Armen Davoudian !
Longlisted for the 🏆2024 National Book Critics Circle (@bookcritics.bsky.social) Award for Poetry!
Congrats to all of the longlisted authors!
www.bookcritics.org/2024/12/18/2...
Congrats @cerena.bsky.social ! Featured in Poets & Writers' Debut Poets Issue!
www.pw.org/content/the_...
Big thanks to Brittany Cavallaro for the chance to highlight 2024 poems I loved in @literaryhub.bsky.social, including one by @cerena.bsky.social! (+ gratitude to Anna Journey for unexpectedly tagging one of mine here too from @newyorker.com! 🥰) lithub.com/49-contempor...
18.12.2024 17:12 — 👍 15 🔁 4 💬 1 📌 1When poets say the moon is a cliche and when Sylvia Plath said the moon is:
“White as a knuckle and terribly upset.
It drags the sea after it like a dark crime”
If anyone assigns CLOUD MISSIVES for their poetry/creative writing/literature course, I would love to zoom in to chat with your class!
I’ve also got some fun writing exercises to go with the book :) ☁️💌
"Tomorrow, find me gone from the lawn: head of fawn, torso, cherubic dawn."
Propulsive brilliance from @jiminseo.bsky.social
Hello world 😏
15.11.2024 13:07 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
