Ribgrass by Nicole Mae
is an atmospheric and haunting poetry collection. It explores the decay and resurrection of trans-queerness in the prairies. From farmland nostalgia to soft romances, Ribgrass is a vehicle for grief. The cyclical nature of mourning finds you everywhere⎯in an algae lake, in the kitchen fridge, in your hospital bed. It shows up as bugs in your bones.
"Ribgrass is the kind of book that gets stuck under your fingernails. These poems move through the seasons like a life you can't quite leave."
⎯Sabrina Spenser Smith, author of A Brief Relief from Hunger
"Nicole Mae uses the rural, wild land to nourish their sick body when medical systems fail them. The land listens, offers clarity, and embraces a body in pain."
⎯Tea Gerbeza, author of How I Bend Into More
"Delicious and slick and replete with gorgeous imagery, Ribgrass is a roving saunter under a prairie sky."
⎯Hollay Ghadery, author of Rebellion Box
Nicole Mae teaches poetry on Skillshare.
Their classes can be accessed through this
1-month free referral link: https://skl.sh/3DUGzoU
Publications
Nicole Mae was a finalist for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award. Their poetry collection Prairie Bog is a part of the 2025 anthology by Writers' Trust of Canada, published by Coach House Books. “Ribgrass,” “Longlaketon,” “Dishes,” “What My Chest Says About Me,” “Sepsis,” “Five Days Post-Breakup,” “And Cried, And Cried,” “Fresh Cream Warm Cashmere,” and “Grasshopper Bones” are readable on Apple Books and Writers' Trust's website.
“Your Skin is Where” (2025): featured in DUSIE’s Tuesday Poem series.
“Matryoshka,” “Tojás Szervek,” and “Fuzz” (2025): featured in periodicities literary journal.
“Trans Unfoldings,” “Algae,” and “Cold Szilvás Gombóc” (2025): featured in The Lilac Journal's issue "Creation Beyond Transition."
“Cream Soda Dissociation” and “Autumn, 2011” (2023): featured in Paloma Magazine’s issue “Life, Bloody Life.”
Screaming Sweet Nothings (2019): A poetry collection following the tenderness and horror of a toxic relationship. Using self-painted art, vintage photographs, and handwritten letters, Screaming Sweet Nothings talks of lust, devotion, manipulation, assault, and marriage.
SOLD OUT EVERYWHERE.
Youth (2018): A poetry collection about the vulnerability of young adulthood. It talks of first-times, long-distance relationships, mental health barriers, and queer discoveries.
SOLD OUT EVERYWHERE.