genuinely curious & tolerantly mad
· R L · powell [he :: they] is a writer of poetry & prose—albeit one that's poorly committed to exclusive definitions of genre. They're the founding editor of a an independent poetry journal, APROSEXIA LIT, an occasional academic, educator, & champion of all things imaginative, peculiar, & kind. They hold a Specialist B.A. (Hons.) in English, with a minor in Paradigms & Archetypes; their MA is in English Languages & Literatures. In the aftermath of the global pandemic, they parted ways with their doctoral program in the—ABD & in good standing—after determining their creative work held more imperative to them; though their time in doctoral studies did enkindle a passion for teaching. This has led them to the MFA program at the Bennington Writing Seminars. To date, he hasn't felt particularly sad about leaving the PhD program, but remains genuinely proud of the decision to write full time.
· R L · has an unusual talent for thinking & teaching in & around critical theory; maintains a passion for pedagogy; & is known for his unique approaches and critique of art. He's drawn to imaginative explorations of literal or figurative space, along with work derived from dreams. They're an irreverent specialist in American modernism, & knows an awful lot about wine. He also thinks you're doing a magnificent job of being yourself.
the imperative to be heard
·As someone who has written throughout their adult life, · R L · has accumulated professional experience writing, in a variety of contexts and unusual conditions, in many different parts of the world. Much of that writing has concentrated in and around the Arts—but turning his primary focus to creative work of his own, full time, is a relatively recent development. And while critical and persuasive modes of writing come easily to them—their first love has always been poetry. And this has led them to their specialty in poetry, studying Literature and Writing at Bennington. Some of their recent poetry publishing credits are provided below; with more forthcoming.
As a neurodivergent, queer, and disabled creative, the obstacles · R L · has encountered throughout his life has led to making a number of hard choices, and allowing for significant concessions with regards to how and where he can live his life. Coming to terms with chronic illness has meant accepting that certain barriers and restrictions are matters of fact, and that while disability means that a body and mind will never “get better”—there are still ways they can be be an agent for change. This has led · R L · toward advocacy, and the fight for better, more visible representation of the disabled and disability in the Arts. Because, while its true that incremental gains in general awareness of neurodivergence and non-visible illness has improved in recent years, · R L · sees the profound range of marginalized experience absented from most cultural discourse, in favor of acknowledging it as a site of trauma and desire for acceptance. Certainly, the latter are both significant parts of being (dis)abled in an abled world—but there's simply more to life than being defined by one's limitations.
This conviction is has led · R L · to found the poetry journal APROSEXIA LIT. He sees it as one way to answer the need for a barrier free online publication, where high quality work that originates outside the norm can find a home, and also be part of a larger conversation within the creative community.
Neurotypical and able-bodied curators and editors are prone to fail disabled and divergent creatives in the Arts unintentionally. A prevailing assumption considers artists are producing successful work when they defamiliarize common experience—rendering the everyday in striking or uncommon terms. For large proportion of the disabled community, what's common experience is radically different from the start. APROSEXIA aims to assume radical difference as the starting point, and celebrate it. As something · R L · would have been happy to see more of early on in their own career, its the first major contribution they want to provide on their own.
Recent publications :: poetry
“I love this shore that drew your feet
to me; washed your shoulders;
beached your raft of bones.”
☞ “Polaroids I didn't take only to leave in Basque,” Ballast [ forthcoming ]
☞ “iii. Without Warning, a Pitch of Desire,” The Inflectionist Review [ forthcoming ]
☞ “the gauge left to battery a phone call [ . . . ]” Scavengers Lit Mag [ forthcoming ]
☞ “consider reducing the journey at large— [ . . . ]” The Argyle; Sept, 2025. [ forthcoming ]
☞ “upon the return from the ATM,” junq magazine. 3, Nov. 2024.
☞ “always and still, leagues above,” Impossible Archetype. 16, Aug 2024.
☞ The Rising Phoenix Review. Jan 2024.
☞ The Eunoia Review. Dec, 2023.
☞ “And the Sea Brags of its Shells,” Haven Spec. 11. Nov 2023.
☞ “Are Bright Things to Pray For,” Impossible Archetype, 14. Aug 2023.
☞ The Rumen. Jul 2023.
☞ [ . . . ]
☞ “Between Tours: for Ron,” Ron's Last Hurrah. Apr 2023.
floating epigrams
The Agnyett
For a number of years—that · R L · would prefer to avoid objectively adding up—a world of sorts has been growing, and producing a quantity of stories, in a third space of · R L · s persistent imagination. The Agnyett, better known as the tripartite-extant, has been fallow—but only in the sense that the stories that take place in it haven't been properly prepared to be shared with a wider audience. However, many of those stories are only becoming more insistent and imperative to foist out into this world at large. At present the time frame is open-ended, but · R L · is working diligently to bring the Agnyett into this world—and hopefully not too long before some of its characters and adventures make their way into the hands of a wider readership.
