Feminine Morbidity will release November 14, 2025
WINNER OF THE HEADLIGHT REVIEW 2025 POETRY CHAPBOOK PRIZE
"As with all we tend, love is not linear. Some moments it breaks, others it flees like a comb from hair but it is here - where doubt ends and faith begins - that we find this dazzling collection of poems, moving us from our own understanding of expectation to the dream of reimagining. In Feminine Morbidity, we find an unapologetic writer able to walk the fine line of surprise and devotion, upending the long-held history of Western birthright and belonging. A lens that is at once an embodiment of resilience and uplift, this work is one of intention and reassertion. In an elevation of lineage and identity, Williams illustrates the true spark of liberation, acknowledging the spirit and language owed to that which we build in place of the empire."
— Olatunde Osinaike, 2025 Poetry Chapbook Prize Judge
“Feminine Morbidity is a hopscotch of kinetic glimpses and narrative snapshots through which Maya Williams invites readers to leap, spin, muse, and reflect along a healing journey. Here are poems of affirmation and poems of permission granted to play, to hear the song in a grandmother's voice, to forgive, to be this miracle.”
-Ian-Khara Ellasante,
Poet & Harward Center Faculty Fellow at Bates College
“In the pages of Feminine Morbidity, one finds the rigorous imagination required to ‘turn a park’s jungle gym into a castle.’ With a poetic voice that is unflinching in its appraisals yet tender in its renderings, Williams documents a world, a family, and a self that are all constantly in flux. Each poem is an invitation into a seemingly trivial episode of everyday life ranging in focus from anxiety’s role in starving the body to language’s part in liberating the mind. At its core, Feminine Morbidity is distinctly Black and Southern in its sensibilities, in its yearnings, and in its indictments. In these pages, Williams fights against death with an honesty, a vulnerability, and a frankness that will leave a lasting impact on every reader.”
—Mia S. Willis, author of the space between men
Maya Williams (ey/they/she) is a religious Black multiracial nonbinary suicide survivor who was selected as Portland, ME's seventh poet laureate for a July 2021 to July 2024 term. Eir debut poetry collection Judas & Suicide was selected as a finalist for a New England Book Award. Their second poetry collection, Refused a Second Date, was selected as a finalist for a Maine Literary Award. Their third poetry collection, What's So Wrong with a Pity Party Anyway?, was selected as one of four winners of Garden Party Collective's chapbook prize in 2024.
Feminine Morbidity will release November 14, 2025
WINNER OF THE HEADLIGHT REVIEW 2025 POETRY CHAPBOOK PRIZE
"As with all we tend, love is not linear. Some moments it breaks, others it flees like a comb from hair but it is here - where doubt ends and faith begins - that we find this dazzling collection of poems, moving us from our own understanding of expectation to the dream of reimagining. In Feminine Morbidity, we find an unapologetic writer able to walk the fine line of surprise and devotion, upending the long-held history of Western birthright and belonging. A lens that is at once an embodiment of resilience and uplift, this work is one of intention and reassertion. In an elevation of lineage and identity, Williams illustrates the true spark of liberation, acknowledging the spirit and language owed to that which we build in place of the empire."
— Olatunde Osinaike, 2025 Poetry Chapbook Prize Judge
“Feminine Morbidity is a hopscotch of kinetic glimpses and narrative snapshots through which Maya Williams invites readers to leap, spin, muse, and reflect along a healing journey. Here are poems of affirmation and poems of permission granted to play, to hear the song in a grandmother's voice, to forgive, to be this miracle.”
-Ian-Khara Ellasante,
Poet & Harward Center Faculty Fellow at Bates College
“In the pages of Feminine Morbidity, one finds the rigorous imagination required to ‘turn a park’s jungle gym into a castle.’ With a poetic voice that is unflinching in its appraisals yet tender in its renderings, Williams documents a world, a family, and a self that are all constantly in flux. Each poem is an invitation into a seemingly trivial episode of everyday life ranging in focus from anxiety’s role in starving the body to language’s part in liberating the mind. At its core, Feminine Morbidity is distinctly Black and Southern in its sensibilities, in its yearnings, and in its indictments. In these pages, Williams fights against death with an honesty, a vulnerability, and a frankness that will leave a lasting impact on every reader.”
—Mia S. Willis, author of the space between men
Maya Williams (ey/they/she) is a religious Black multiracial nonbinary suicide survivor who was selected as Portland, ME's seventh poet laureate for a July 2021 to July 2024 term. Eir debut poetry collection Judas & Suicide was selected as a finalist for a New England Book Award. Their second poetry collection, Refused a Second Date, was selected as a finalist for a Maine Literary Award. Their third poetry collection, What's So Wrong with a Pity Party Anyway?, was selected as one of four winners of Garden Party Collective's chapbook prize in 2024.
