Black. Queer. Kinky. Kilted. That’s how Jubi Arriola-Headley describes himself in his Instagram bio. He’s a nationally recognized poet, first generation American, and published author.

Some themes Arriola-Headley explores through his poetry are manhood, vulnerability, and joy.

“When you are othered in the world, meaning you are not necessarily a white heterosexual male, one of the traps that we get caught in is that people expect us — and there’s a lot of it, to be fair — to talk about our trauma and the difficulties we have in the world,” Arriola-Headley said. “And that's valid and fair and necessary, but also we're living, breathing humans who experience pleasure and joy. We like the taste of chocolate. We like to have orgasms. We like to feel the sun on our skin.”

Arriola-Headley credits the poem “Sorrow Is Not My Name” by Ross Gay for inspiring him to rethink the themes he is willing to give time and space to in his writing.

“Yes, I will absolutely write about the challenges of being black and being queer and being fat, etcetera,” Arriola-Headley said. “But I'll also write about how it feels to lay in the sun. Or how it feels like to wear a kilt, or how I enjoy Chunky Monkey ice cream. I mean, all of those are valid things to write about, and I just needed to learn to give myself permission for the joy as well as the pain.”

Arriola-Headley recently published his second poetry collection, “Bound.” It’s available for order from Persea Books.

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