We are honored to host a collaborative event between W.J. Lofton x meTamorphosis, in celebration of boy maybe — a lyrical, tender debut collection exploring Black queer embodiment. A queer artifact/anti-colonial weapon/survival psalm. W.J. Lofton will be in conversation with Dior J. Stephens. The event will also feature readings from Miles E. Johnson and Amari Onyx. 

51 achingly eloquent poems from a young Cave Canem fellow: W. J. Lofton’s verses explore Black queer Southern identity, grief, love, and intimacy while enduring and witnessing unfreedom in America

W. J. Lofton writes vivid, accessible poems that channel the energy, urgency, ambitions, joys, and sorrows of a young Black queer artist. They are about love and flirtation, sweet tea and hot sauce, God and family, life and death, police brutality and extrajudicial killings.

His verses honor some of the young lives extinguished by these killings—Breonna Taylor, Kendrick Johnson, Ahmaud Arbery. He also pays tribute to some of the towering figures of Black culture who have come before him—Richard Pryor, Assata Shakur.

His style is endlessly propulsive, informed by some of the Harlem Renaissance greats—Langston Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks—but also transforming that rich tradition for the present day.

W.J. LOFTON, a Chicago-born poet and Alabama-raised multimodal artist, is the author of A Garden for Black Boys Between the Stages of Soil and Stardust and his newest collection boy maybe (Beacon Press, Spring 2025). A recipient of Ava DuVernay’s LEAP Grant and an artist-in-residency at 100West, Lofton has earned fellowships from Cave Canem and Emory University. His work has been featured or forthcoming in TIME, wildness, Obsidian, Scalawag, Academy of American Poets, American Poets Magazine, Prose to the People, No Justice, No Peace: From the Civil Rights Movement to Black Lives Matter, and film festivals nationwide. Lofton’s constant concern is liberation and its lived manifestations — the personal, political, and collective. He resides in Atlanta, Georgia where he co-curates Rebellion: A Writing Salon, a space devoted to Black writers.

DIOR J. STEPHENS, PhD is a Black, Queer poet and interdisciplinary scholar whose work spans literature, performance, and visual arts. Their debut poetry collection, CRUEL/CRUEL (Nightboat Books, 2023), explores themes of existentialism, Black poetics, and the intersections of history and memory. Dior has received fellowships from Cave Canem, Sewanee, and Lambda Literary, and their work has been featured in various literary journals and anthologies. Currently, they are focused on their second full-length collection, ATOMIC I, which examines the intersections of Black poetics, nuclear history, and spiritual transformation. They are Co-Editor-in-Chief of Foglifter Journal and Press and are passionate about creating spaces that amplify marginalized voices and foster creative, interdisciplinary engagement.

MILES E. JOHNSON is a journalist and essayist by training, a poet by lived experience. Miles believes that the world would be better off if there were no borders at all, but simultaneously reps his home, Washington, DC, with fervor and gratitude. He loves his Granny and all the other Black folks who watch out and over him, following NBA basketball, and writing poems about comic books. You can find (some of) his work in the NPR & Mother Jones archives, and at blackandoutside.com. If you’re lucky, you can find him on Twitter/Instagram @blackandoutside. If you’re rich, you can find him on Cash App at $blackoutside and Venmo @blackandoutside.

meTamorphosis is a queer & trans led event series committed to uplifting emerging LGBTQ+ writers by curating inclusive community readings in Pittsburgh, PA. meTamorphosis celebrates queer & trans people’s commitment to ongoing transformation and embracing change to become who they know themselves to be.

About the organizer:
AMARI ONYX is a Black trans poet & multi-form artist. Their poetics centers on the reality of being alive in their body. Poems and community sustain their existence, which inspired the creation of meTamorphosis. They uplift QTBIPOC books via @trustyourwings.books on Instagram and study poetry at The University of Pittsburgh.

Sign up for livestream: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/mG0KQUhNTVinCzEEMh9fyA#/registration