PUBLICATIONS & VIDEO | mayawilliamspoet

Find Maya's published poems, published essays, filmed talks, and filmed poems at the links below:

Poems

Reverie Magazine (2026): "How to Drop Dead Gorgeous"
Estrella House Publishing: The Celestial Glossary (2026): "On Building an Assignment at Birth"
Oddball Magazine (2025): "In Defense of a 'Bad Habit'"
The Headlight Review (2025): "My Therapist Shows Me How to Write in the Affirmative or An Alternative to Writing 'Don't Kill Yourself'"
Indianapolis Review (2025): "Spiritual Bypassing"
Indianapolis Review (2025): "Three Times the Color Red Served as a Warning"
The Northeast Coast (2025): "How to Finally Float"
Querencia Press (2025): "My Therapist Told Me You Don't Need to Attend a Church that Doesn't Love You, and Years Later"
Touchstone (2024): "My Therapist Reminds Me Again How My Parents’ Divorce Plays a Role in My Trauma"
The Portland Press Herald (2023): "In the Beginning"
From Root to Seed: Black, Brown, and Indigenous Poets Write the Northeast (2023): "While Driving on I-295" and "The Path to Heaven is by Lifeboat"
The Coop (2022): "Last Night"
The Cortland Review (2022): "Miraculous"
Amjambo Africa! (2022): "Judas & Suicide" and "In the Lobby of The Opportunity Alliance, There are Three Large Plush Cars to Choose From for Clients' Children to Play with"
The Coop (2022): "Drafts for Every Obituary for a Death by Suicide"
Assignment Mag (2022): "Put Them in the Back," "When I Die," and "I Don't Know if This is Accurate, I Only Know We Won't be in a Single File Diagonal Line"
The Portland Press Herald (2022): "Something Needs to be Done"
Oxford Press (2022): "Spite," "I Believe the Devil is Concerned with More Pressing Matters Than My Mental Health Issues," etc.
The Night the Heron Barks (2021): "Effort Has to Rely on the Oldest"
The Indianapolis Review (2021): "You Mean to Tell Me Black People Didn't Inspire 'The Time Warp'?"
Maine Arts Journal (2021): " 'Commit' in Relation to Suicide"
Ran Off with the Star Bassoon (2021): "Lucknow, India 2017"
The Soul in Space Mag (2021): "Casting Call for ANTM Web Edition"
Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance/Portland Press Herald's Deep Water Column (2021): "On a Film Set Playing Mary Bowser"
Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality and the Arts (2021): "Side Effects of Prayer," and "For Wanda Coleman's Wicked Enchantment"
FreezeRay (2020): "A Sestina for the Representation of Suicide in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"
A Gathering Together (2020): "I Love it When Black People Ask, 'How You Livin'?'"
Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality and the Arts (2020): "On Instagram" & "The Philippian Jailer, Suicide, and Hope"
Littoral Books Anthology Enough! Poems of Resistance and Protest: "To the Black and Brown Fems with Earbuds in their Ears" & "Why Incarceration is Not Working"
Interfaith America (2020): "Religious Imposters"
Terse Journal (2020): "Ladybugs"
Misery Tourism (2020): "An Erasure of a Job Opening at Long Creek Youth Development Center on Indeed"
Black Table Arts (2020): "An Ode to the Black Femmes' Group Chat"
Misery Tourism (2020): "Contracts"
A Gathering Together (2019): "To Be a Spiritual Dancing Fiend"
Bosque Press (2019): "The Worst to Ever Happen"
Frost Meadow Review Volume 3 (Featured Poems, 2019)
Frost Meadow Review Volume 2 (2019): "Internalizing in Two Parts" & "My Depression is..."
Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance/Portland Press Herald's Deep Water Column (2019): "Revel in Filth"
Homology Lit (Best of the Net Nominee 2019): "The Words We Wear"
Royal Rose Magazine (2019): "Staying Alive" & "Stumbling"
glitterMOB (2018): "Current Triggers"
Trill Project (2018): "Convince Us to Stay: a Poem"
Occulum (2018): "When Speaking to an Extraterrestrial"

Essays

Black Youth Project (2026): "The Politics of Misgendering Black Queer and Trans People"
The Rumpus (2026): "Gaar Adams' Guest Privileges Deconstructs 'Isn't it Harder There?' for LGBTQ+ People in the Gulf"
Talk Death (2025): "The Importance of Black Feminine Beautification Rituals for Funerals in American Religion"
The Rumpus (2025): "Why a Happy Ending Matters: a Review of John Vercher's Novels"
Black Girl Nerds (2025): "In this Second Era of Trump, I Don't Want More Films About Empathizing with Nazis"
Black Girl Nerds (2024): "How Jesse Eisenberg's 'A Real Pain' Can Present a Conversation About Black-Jew Solidarity"
Rooted in Rights (2024): "My Pain is Personal"
Stylist (2023): "This is How I'm Learning to Live with Dermatillomania"
LGBTQ Nation (2023): "How Tattoos Helped Me Reclaim the Power of My Queer & Trans Body"
Full Stop (2023): The Kingdom of Surfaces - Sally Wen Mao
The Daily Beast (2022): "How Hollywood Can Better Protect Black Viewers' Mental Health"
Black Girl Nerds (2022): "We Need More Black Villains Like Allison Hargreeves of ‘Umbrella Academy’"
Matthew's Place (2022) "How Elliot Page’s Transition Honors Viktor Hargreeves’ Manhood While Also Honoring the Women in His Life in the Third Season of Umbrella Academy"
The Rumpus (2022): "Using Form to Transform: Come Clean by Joshua Nguyen"
Honey Literary (2022): "Breaking the Binary of “Softness”/”Hardness”: A Book Review of Franny Choi’s Soft Science”
Carefree (2020): "I'm a Black Suicide Survivor and Joy is My Act of Resistance"
Black Girl Nerds (2020): "How Do We Move Beyond the 'Strong Black Woman' Trope for Suicide in Film?"
Black Girl Nerds (2020): "Casting Black People as Cops Will Not Stop Black People from Dying"
Terse Journal (2020): "Book Review: 'Retelling of History Fused with Afrofuturism in Sasha Banks' america, MINE'"
Black Girl Nerds (2020): 'Birthright': an Invitation to "Read" Rather Than "read" about Autonomy over Erasure"
Metro UK (2020): "Mental Health Representation is Improving On Screen - But Where are Black Women?"
Matthew's Place (2020): "I Was Wrong About My LGBTQ+ Identity Not Correlating with My Suicidal Ideation"
Black Girl Nerds (2020): "The Representation of Incarcerated Black Women"
Black Youth Project (2020): "I Became a Sex and Consent Educator with Black Youth in Mind"
Rooted in Rights (2020): "Conversations that Black Communities Need to Be Having About Suicide"
Black Youth Project (2019): "Treatment for My Suicidal Ideation Has Not Been a Linear Journey"
Rooted in Rights (2020): "Coping with Suicidal Ideation Among the Uncertainty of COVID-19"
The Tempest (2018): "This Poetry Chapbook Embodies The Complexities of Non-binary Feminine Identity"
The Tempest (2018): "Mental Health is Still an Issue, Even After It's Stopped Trending"

Find Maya's published poems, published essays, filmed talks, and filmed poems at the links below:

Poems

​

Reverie Magazine (2026): "How to Drop Dead Gorgeous"

Estrella House Publishing: The Celestial Glossary (2026): "On Building an Assignment at Birth"

Oddball Magazine (2025): "In Defense of a 'Bad Habit'"

The Headlight Review (2025): "My Therapist Shows Me How to Write in the Affirmative or An Alternative to Writing 'Don't Kill Yourself'"

Indianapolis Review (2025): "Spiritual Bypassing"

Indianapolis Review (2025): "Three Times the Color Red Served as a Warning"

The Northeast Coast (2025): "How to Finally Float"

Querencia Press (2025): "My Therapist Told Me You Don't Need to Attend a Church that Doesn't Love You, and Years Later"

Touchstone (2024): "My Therapist Reminds Me Again How My Parents’ Divorce Plays a Role in My Trauma"

The Portland Press Herald (2023): "In the Beginning"

From Root to Seed: Black, Brown, and Indigenous Poets Write the Northeast (2023): "While Driving on I-295" and "The Path to Heaven is by Lifeboat"

The Coop (2022): "Last Night"

The Cortland Review (2022): "Miraculous"

Amjambo Africa! (2022): "Judas & Suicide" and "In the Lobby of The Opportunity Alliance, There are Three Large Plush Cars to Choose From for Clients' Children to Play with"

The Coop (2022): "Drafts for Every Obituary for a Death by Suicide"

Assignment Mag (2022): "Put Them in the Back," "When I Die," and "I Don't Know if This is Accurate, I Only Know We Won't be in a Single File Diagonal Line"

The Portland Press Herald (2022): "Something Needs to be Done"

Oxford Press (2022): "Spite," "I Believe the Devil is Concerned with More Pressing Matters Than My Mental Health Issues," etc.

The Night the Heron Barks (2021): "Effort Has to Rely on the Oldest"

The Indianapolis Review (2021): "You Mean to Tell Me Black People Didn't Inspire 'The Time Warp'?"

Maine Arts Journal (2021): " 'Commit' in Relation to Suicide"

Ran Off with the Star Bassoon (2021): "Lucknow, India 2017"

The Soul in Space Mag (2021): "Casting Call for ANTM Web Edition"

Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance/Portland Press Herald's Deep Water Column (2021): "On a Film Set Playing Mary Bowser"

Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality and the Arts (2021): "Side Effects of Prayer," and "For Wanda Coleman's Wicked Enchantment"

FreezeRay (2020): "A Sestina for the Representation of Suicide in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend"

A Gathering Together (2020): "I Love it When Black People Ask, 'How You Livin'?'"

Pensive: A Global Journal of Spirituality and the Arts (2020): "On Instagram" & "The Philippian Jailer, Suicide, and Hope"

Littoral Books Anthology Enough! Poems of Resistance and Protest: "To the Black and Brown Fems with Earbuds in their Ears" & "Why Incarceration is Not Working"

Interfaith America (2020): "Religious Imposters"

Terse Journal (2020): "Ladybugs"

Misery Tourism (2020): "An Erasure of a Job Opening at Long Creek Youth Development Center on Indeed"

Black Table Arts (2020): "An Ode to the Black Femmes' Group Chat"

Misery Tourism (2020): "Contracts"

A Gathering Together (2019): "To Be a Spiritual Dancing Fiend"

Bosque Press (2019): "The Worst to Ever Happen"

Frost Meadow Review Volume 3 (Featured Poems, 2019)

Frost Meadow Review Volume 2 (2019): "Internalizing in Two Parts" & "My Depression is..."

Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance/Portland Press Herald's Deep Water Column (2019): "Revel in Filth"

Homology Lit (Best of the Net Nominee 2019): "The Words We Wear"

Royal Rose Magazine (2019): "Staying Alive" & "Stumbling"

glitterMOB (2018): "Current Triggers"

Trill Project (2018): "Convince Us to Stay: a Poem"

Occulum (2018): "When Speaking to an Extraterrestrial"

​​

Essays​​

​​

Black Youth Project (2026): "The Politics of Misgendering Black Queer and Trans People"

The Rumpus (2026): "Gaar Adams' Guest Privileges Deconstructs 'Isn't it Harder There?' for LGBTQ+ People in the Gulf"

Talk Death (2025): "The Importance of Black Feminine Beautification Rituals for Funerals in American Religion"

The Rumpus (2025): "Why a Happy Ending Matters: a Review of John Vercher's Novels"

Black Girl Nerds (2025): "In this Second Era of Trump, I Don't Want More Films About Empathizing with Nazis"

Black Girl Nerds (2024): "How Jesse Eisenberg's 'A Real Pain' Can Present a Conversation About Black-Jew Solidarity"

Rooted in Rights (2024): "My Pain is Personal"

Stylist (2023): "This is How I'm Learning to Live with Dermatillomania"

LGBTQ Nation (2023): "How Tattoos Helped Me Reclaim the Power of My Queer & Trans Body"

Full Stop (2023): The Kingdom of Surfaces - Sally Wen Mao

The Daily Beast (2022): "How Hollywood Can Better Protect Black Viewers' Mental Health"

Black Girl Nerds (2022): "We Need More Black Villains Like Allison Hargreeves of ‘Umbrella Academy’"

Matthew's Place (2022) "How Elliot Page’s Transition Honors Viktor Hargreeves’ Manhood While Also Honoring the Women in His Life in the Third Season of Umbrella Academy"

The Rumpus (2022): "Using Form to Transform: Come Clean by Joshua Nguyen"

Honey Literary (2022): "Breaking the Binary of “Softness”/”Hardness”: A Book Review of Franny Choi’s Soft Science”

Carefree (2020): "I'm a Black Suicide Survivor and Joy is My Act of Resistance"

Black Girl Nerds (2020): "How Do We Move Beyond the 'Strong Black Woman' Trope for Suicide in Film?"

Black Girl Nerds (2020): "Casting Black People as Cops Will Not Stop Black People from Dying"

Terse Journal (2020): "Book Review: 'Retelling of History Fused with Afrofuturism in Sasha Banks' america, MINE'"

Black Girl Nerds (2020): 'Birthright': an Invitation to "Read" Rather Than "read" about Autonomy over Erasure"

Metro UK (2020): "Mental Health Representation is Improving On Screen - But Where are Black Women?"

Matthew's Place (2020): "I Was Wrong About My LGBTQ+ Identity Not Correlating with My Suicidal Ideation"

Black Girl Nerds (2020): "The Representation of Incarcerated Black Women"

Black Youth Project (2020): "I Became a Sex and Consent Educator with Black Youth in Mind"

Rooted in Rights (2020): "Conversations that Black Communities Need to Be Having About Suicide"

Rooted in Rights (2020): "Coping with Suicidal Ideation Among the Uncertainty of COVID-19"

The Tempest (2018): "This Poetry Chapbook Embodies The Complexities of Non-binary Feminine Identity"

The Tempest (2018): "Mental Health is Still an Issue, Even After It's Stopped Trending"

​

​​​Videos

Essays

Videos