Excerpt from Ribgrass by Nicole Mae
Excerpt shared with permision. Copyright Nicole Mae, 2026.
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.
Nicole Mae (they/she) is an interdisciplinary artist from Saskatchewan, Canada.
Their poetry, films, and artworks reflect themes of nostalgia, ill body, Hungarian diaspora, prairie queerness, shame, longing, and romantic love.
Mae's poetry collection Ribgrass released June 19, 2026, following their recognition as an RBC Brown Wallace Award poetry finalist for the Writers' Trust of Canada. Several poems from Ribgrass have been featured in magazines and literary journals as well. Mae also teaches poetry on Skillshare, hosts creative writing workshops with Saskatchewan non-profits, and works as a book publicist for River Street Writing.
Mae's films are made accessible on YouTube. Their latest stop-motion film I’m Not Your Daughter—I’m Something Worse received an Official Selection for the Fairy Fang Film Festival and a Best Experimental Film nomination for the Moose Jaw Film Festival. Previous poetry films such as BRUTE and What My Chest Says About Me are touring art galleries in North America.
Mae's is also the founder of Love Letters, a multimedia art subscription. Every month, they send seasonal essays and experimental artworks to strangers across the globe. Love Letters, along with their paintings and commission requests, can be accessed on ko-fi.