tyler hurula – south broadway press

Tyler Hurula (she/they) is the pinkest poet in Denver, Colorado. She strives to be the most queer and polyamorous person they can be. You’ll likely find her parading around in a tiara with hot pink lipstick going to an art walk or discussing the intricacies of the latest horror movie she’s watched with anyone who will listen. Author of chapbook Love Me Louder (Querencia Press) and Too Pretty for Plain Coffee (Wayfarer Books). They have been nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart Prizes, and were a finalist for the Write Bloody 2024 Jack McCarthy Book Prize Contest.

If you are going to be anything in the world tonight, you better be lightning. You better find something in you honest enough to strike them.
Andrea Gibson

WHAT DOES THIS QUOTE MEAN TO YOU?

This quote is from a poem by Andrea Gibson called What Love Is and I think love is connection, and anything we do is ultimately about connection and love, and the way to do that is by being honest and vulnerable. When you show up in that way, all you can do is hope it resonates with the people you were meant to find.

WHAT BOOKS HAVE MADE AN IMPORTANT IMPACT ON YOU AND WHY?

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

This book is gorgeous. Vuong finds all of these beautiful truths in what it means to be human in the middle of so many things that are not beautiful. He gives himself the freedom to say what he needs to say and to be completely vulnerable by writing it for a mother who will never read it.

The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

I love all things horror, and this was the first book I read by Tremblay. It is absolutely devastating and hopeful, and the only horror novel I’ve ever sobbed at the end of.

My Friends by Fredrick Backman

I am still in the middle of this book, but knew after the first page it would be one of my favorites. Backman is one of the most emotionally intelligent authors, and is able to encapsulate at the root what it means to be human, and how we all connect and relate to each other, even when we have completely different experiences.

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF WRITING AND ART IN THE CURRENT STATE OF THE WORLD?

I took a workshop with Patricia Smith awhile ago and she repeated a quote by someone and I can’t remember the exact quote or who it was originally from, but essentially it was something about when you’re looking for facts, go to the news, but when you’re looking for the truth of something, look to the poets. We have to create and connect with people. Art is how we navigate and contextualize the world. It is how we highlight the truths around us, how we find our human-ness in others, and how we are able to see the human-ness in others as reflected in their art—in how and what they create. In My Friends by Fredrick Backman, he says “art is what we leave of ourselves in other people” and in On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong says “Is that what art is? To be touched thinking what we feel is ours when, in the end, it was someone else, in longing, who finds us?” I like to think that all of my poems are just asking “do you see me?” Art is one of the purest forms of connection, and without it, we have nothing.

HOW HAS WRITING AND ART HELPED TO FORM THE PERSON YOU ARE TODAY?

I grew up in an environment where there were so many secrets I was expected to keep, which led to a very lonely and isolating childhood and young adulthood. Through writing, I’ve been able to share those truths and surround myself with a community and people dedicated to practicing vulnerability and authenticity. I have grown into myself, and have learned to love the whole of myself through writing and art. It’s given me permission to feel all of the things, and be open to experiencing a multitude of truths from a multitude of people.

WHAT IS SOMETHING THAT MATTERS TO YOU?

Building community is so important to me. We simply cannot do this life on our own, and the more people and perspectives we surround ourselves with, the more capable we are to grow together and care for each other.

What’s Left

Maybe I should stop
writing about glitter—
but sometimes I wonder

if it’s the only proof
still clinging to what’s left
of us. Do you miss

the sparkle of my eye
shadow? Golden branded
butterfly kisses fluttered

onto your gilded cheeks.
I guess I just like shiny things
that stay. Like a shimmery

permanence, or a luster
memento of everything
I’ve loved enough to touch.

Another Period Poem

Fucking someone should be easy,
but I’m on my period
on a first date, and I want

to negotiate a scene—
but not that one from The Shining.
So anyway, a man walks into a bar

and I’m bleeding. He says I’m happy
you decided to meet, and my smile
lacks sparkle because I’m just here

for the ride, and one of us knows
that’s not going to happen.
I order something fruity with a tiny

umbrella. My cherry red lipstick ghosts
into the soft red bar-light glow.
I’m on his lap when I say we’re not

having sex. He puts his hands up—
a surrender, says I’d just like to kiss you,
and we do until I’m kissing

him with my eyes open: bored and waiting
for the punchline. An older man
walks into a bar, and I’m still bleeding.

He says I don’t drink but looks thirsty.
I savor the thought of being a novelty,
but he looks everywhere but me

and his fingers fidget, never reach
for mine. He walks me home
and doesn’t invite himself in.

A woman walks into a coffee shop,
it’s a week and a half later and I’m still
bleeding. I’m cursing the bloated

baggage of the breakup that brought
this all on. She says I’d like to kiss you,
and we do and she leaves. I want to feel

something, will myself to exchange
numbness for lust. I’m empty and aching
to be filled by something like soft

hands. The boy made of sand
let himself be swallowed
by a gentler sea. I wish

instead of blood I could bury
him under the rough
sheets of some unknown

bed. I don’t want to write
another poem about this boy
or my period,

but I guess I’ll opt for the latter
because it’s the one that always comes
back.

Tyler Hurula (she/her) is a poet born and raised in Denver, Colorado. She is queer, polyamorous, and lives with her wife and two cats. Author of Love Me Louder (Querencia Press). Her poems have been published previously in Anti-Heroin Chic, Aurum Journal, Quail Bell Magazine, Gnashing Teeth Publishing, and more. She values connection, authenticity, and vulnerability, and tries to encompass these values in her writing as well as everyday life.

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Editor Interviews // Tyler Hurula