Billie Sainwood
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billiewrites.bsky.social
Billie Sainwood
@billiewrites.bsky.social
98 followers 56 following 97 posts
I’m trans, tired, and probably writing poems.

https://substack.com/@wilhelminalibrary

billiewritespoems.com
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Reposted by Billie Sainwood
kithbooks.bsky.social
Brave and unflinching, Like Blood on a Dog's Teeth comes gracious & asking; From youth to adulthood, from lost pup to collared, Nivik reflects on bright lights and rough loves, the selfhood of aging, & all that it costs.
@nivikthejackal.bsky.social

Pre-orders are OPEN
kithbooks.com/shop/p/dogsteeth
The cover image, a charcoal and nearly white pale green photo of a person in profile in their pup hood. Their eyes are obscured by a scribble of the background colour over which the title is written in red, is accompanied by the following text LIKE BLOOD ON A DOG’S TEETH NIVIK January 21st, 2026 kithbooks.com “i want to feel you with alien skin just to touch the newness and strangeness of your flesh until i again know it for its sensitivity under this layer of warmth.” - Latex like blood on a dog's teeth i love like a dog with blood on their teeth caught up in the immediacy of the scent, singularly focused and ever pursuing eyes dilated, wracked with frenzy, possession, instinct, insatiable. i am a dog in pursuit baying and howling, consumed by my quarry, the trumpet beckoning me on to settle the hunt and feast i am a starving dog following the trace of you. finally locked in my jaws i gorge and gratify. Drone (love in a gas mask) there is perfection in unblemished latex skin a mask that reflects the viewer in eyes that are closed knowing only your warm touch magnified and heightened to guide me. There is transfiguration in a creature relying on exclusively on your command to guide and position me. To be an empty shell where words like 'I' escape meaning. To respond to the pulls at my collar. To be an object at your disposal. To be the thing you use and direct. To have no will but yours. An emptiness and silence punctuated by breaths through a gas mask and what moans you command me make. Breathe life into my vents and filters and play god a while. gentle i wish to live a quiet life stirred only by a gentle breeze that tickles wind-chimes in dulcet expressions and calls me to prayer yet here the gentility we build is surrounded by smoke and fangs and the roars of the bloodthirsty the peace i have this gentility i wish: the bloodthirsty remind you you only have this world because the wolves haven't come for you yet. they tolerate you for a while. in this shrinking, gentle world that hasn't yet turned to ash the desolate feeling (ever closer to the brink) that we must be quieter unhurried reasoning with those with bloodstained fangs in the hope they pass over our houses— (perhaps our bones and sinew are not yet offensive enough to warrant them gouging us.) i say to you these wolves will feast on us all— we must defend the last of this fragile world from these forests of ash and glinting teeth. we must defend our gentle peace our quiet and felicitous solitude by sharpening our teeth to meet the monsters' own. when the howls of the bloodthirsty are extinguished we can have our quiet peace again. On a background of pale green is the muzzle of a person in pup hood and the following text LIKE BLOOD ON A DOG’S TEETH NIVIK January 21st, 2026 kithbooks.com No one teaches us how to age gracefully in the queer community; Nivik does the best job of it I've seen thus far. Their poems are elegaic exposés on an utterly new queer condition: what it's like to have loved and lost, to have danced until you're no longer the pretty young thing in the middle of the rave, to have had raw, unbridled intimacy in an age where the only epidemic people are worried about doesn't have to do with your sexuality. The animal imagery throughout, often classical, often beat, tells the tale of a dog who is lost and abandoned, found again, found again, and still possessing an immense, inane appetite. And whether you're a pup or a furry, a kinkster or a prude, a dom daddy or a sadistic sub, Nivik's poems are a dog unto themselves: they'll go for your throat, and you won't know until you're done whether their bite is one of love or of hunger. Or maybe they're both the same -Thurston Howl, Fenris Publishing
December 8, 2025 at 10:40 PM
billiewrites.bsky.social
i think i'm gonna go to seminary
December 9, 2025 at 7:52 PM
billiewrites.bsky.social
So every November I try to write 30 poems in 30 days and little recap essays on my substack.

In this one (Week 1) we talk about St. Augustine, Jonah, and Charles Peguey
Blog image of rotting yellow greeb pears covered in brown black ants. above it in a burnt umber text box, in white lettering reads "Pears and God's Scumbags: Week 1 of November Writing Challenge
November 25, 2025 at 6:44 AM
Reposted by Billie Sainwood
en-gendered.bsky.social
"The Great Blight of Yates County, New York"
Wilhelmina "Billie" Sainwood
@billiewrites.bsky.social

engenderedlitmag.com/summer2025
And now nothing will grow here. Not even grass. Every seed in the Earth spits back out yellow and hard as bones or black as bruises. Every tuber and root sinks into the soil tight as dogs’ jaws and doesn’t come up. The soil is wounded and abused and unwelcome. So nobody plants. Billie Sainwood, The Great Blight of Yeats County, New York engenderedlitmag.com
July 9, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Reposted by Billie Sainwood
flightlit.bsky.social
Day 18 of the #sealeychallenge

August 18th- What was eaten was given, Billie Sainwood

@kithbooks.bsky.social makes beautiful books, and the poems inside this collection are funny and well-crafted
The cover of the Billie Sainwood book What was eaten was given "Love letter to my first crop top" The way you hold me stretched taut as canvas across. Flattering, honest. There is no hiding No cover for the stomach. Soft geometry. This is my body. Its unruly pop and bulge. It dares you to love. Gift from my ex wife. Once hers, now mine. Legacy. Woman to woman. Your strong cotton hands. Grip me and squeeze. Pull me tight. Lift me. Support me. Stomach horizon. Cliffs of breasts above ocean. My new tectonics. You show me new worlds. You gently teach me new tongues. The way you hold me.
August 18, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Reposted by Billie Sainwood
kithbooks.bsky.social
Nothing, lover, will die with you.
-T4T4T4T4T4T4ever

@billiewrites.bsky.social
kithbooks.com/shop/p/whatwaseaten
kith in print
‘What is eaten was given’ cradles the past and prays into the future as context for a queer, trans life being lived to its fullest right now. Sainwood’s naked discussions of sex, mental illness, fear,...
kithbooks.com
May 15, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Reposted by Billie Sainwood
kithbooks.bsky.social
Sainwood’s naked discussions of sex, mental illness, fear, hope, & longing beg the reader into their own self reflection. Cis, trans, queer, straight, our bodies all pray to something. How do you worship? What lies deep inside you? What must you let out?
@billiewrites.bsky.social
What was eaten was given Wilhelmina "Billie" Sainwood cover: a glistening raw liver on a drawing of a place setting outlined in white on a background of black. text: "The Sapphic Prometheus" The gods' mistake was saying forever and thinking they wouldn't have time to fall for each other. That a titan and an eagle couldn't find more in common than pain and a full belly if they had forever to figure out.
May 15, 2025 at 2:32 PM
billiewrites.bsky.social
Put a liver on a plate, that’s poetry
kithbooks.bsky.social kith books @kithbooks.bsky.social · Apr 6
we consistently get compliments for our covers. they come, by and large, from our authors so I get to agree. they're amazing in person. these 16 drew outsized attention at AWP.
a collage of 16 kith covers Utopia in Green - Magi Sumpter a moody green painting of a skull ringed in flowers SYNTAX ERROR - Siobhan Dunlop the hello world code in commodore 64 font on 80's computer screen blue The Magi Come to Toronto a section of medieval tapestry in red and gold Toothache - Ozzy Welch a close up photograph of white skin What was eaten was given - Billie Sainwood glistening raw liver on a plate here I am, pry me open - Atlas St. Cloud a sepia toned painting of the wound in jesus's side Holds Up When Shattered - Merri Andrew a shattered field of glass space neon neon space - luna rey hall a pink and lavender nebula in deep purple space Mall Water - Jenna Jaco a teal tinted mall lobby slashed across with a banner of pink, yellow, and red Hinting of Decolonization - Nicola Andrews a defaced portrait of Captain Cook SWARM - NDR line drawn black paper wasps and their nest on mustard yellow For Spite and Rosemary - Odette Augustine a delicate black line drawn corset washed over in pink watercolours
April 6, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Reposted by Billie Sainwood
kithbooks.bsky.social
Sainwood’s naked discussion of sex, mental illness, fear, hope, and longing begs the reader into self reflection. Cis, trans, queer, straight, we are sites of creation, deserving of worship. What lies deep inside you? What must you let out?
@billiewrites.bsky.social
what was eaten was given Wilhelmina "Billie" Sainwood cover: a shiny liver sits on a white line drawing of a plate flanked by cutlery on a background of gloss black the cover image appears in a white circle surrounded by the words "EATEN GIVEN" in black all caps on white
February 27, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by Billie Sainwood
kithbooks.bsky.social
A photo collage of 60+ book covers accompanied by the following text: kith est 2022 trans, queer, and disabled owned and operated submissions always welcome wim@kithbooks.com the funny little press making funny little books
December 18, 2024 at 6:02 AM
billiewrites.bsky.social
New blog post up!

Epiphanies of Impossible Women: Tokyo Godfathers, the Virgin Mary, and Trans Nativity
January 15, 2025 at 4:11 AM
billiewrites.bsky.social
Reminder that I wrote a book of poems that I would just LOVE if you bought, read, or begged your libraries to stock
kithbooks.bsky.social kith books @kithbooks.bsky.social · Jan 10
What was eaten was given
Billie Sainwood @billiewrites.bsky.social
transness as revelation, as decreation, as rebirth and reclamation of both body and soul.
the cover of Wilhelmina "Billie" Sainwood's What was eaten was given on a background of pale pink. on the cover a glistening raw liver sits on a white sketch of a plate and utensils. the background is black. Sainwood speaks to angels, the women who cupped the pink and passed their breath to her lungs, the ones who anchored the cable. She rises, a noise made tangible at last. - Atlas St. Cloud
January 10, 2025 at 3:04 PM
billiewrites.bsky.social
Posted my year recap! I did entirely too much.
A yellow title card with black text that reads: 12/21/2024 Drowning in Coats: 2024 in Review Read more
December 21, 2024 at 10:48 PM
billiewrites.bsky.social
I have rediscovered how cute I look in pigtails. The world may never recover
December 18, 2024 at 2:58 PM
billiewrites.bsky.social
This photo is the crowning achievement of my life.
Billie, in black boots and a white and midi black dress, stands behind a desk and a laptop. Behind her is a projection of a power point presentation. The slide is solid black with a single white word: tits.
December 11, 2024 at 5:00 AM
billiewrites.bsky.social
I have written the Acknowledgments section to my latest project and realized, again, that it is a poem in disguise.
November 27, 2024 at 7:05 AM
billiewrites.bsky.social
Oh, I guess I’m back here now. I will occasionally be posting about poetry, art, and unrelenting sapphic yearning
November 23, 2024 at 7:04 PM
billiewrites.bsky.social
Hi! Please pre-order my book I worked so incredibly, unbelievably hard on it. It’s gay, it’s trans, it’s sexy, it’s violent, it has FEET in it!!!
The cover of What was eaten was given by Wilhelmina "Billie" Sainwood on a pale peach background overlayed with a red rectangle that reads "All those women, so far up there they could’ve been angels. It is because of their height, I knew I could climb." sits beside black text reading, "release date July 14 pre-orders are open" on the cover a glistening, uncut liver rests on a white line drawn plate flanked by cutlery on a black background. the title and author's name are rendered in white.
June 18, 2024 at 1:15 AM
billiewrites.bsky.social
I have a book coming out next month. If you like body horror, love poems, religious trauma, and feet?

You’ll have a new favorite book by July.

WHAT WAS EATEN WAS GIVEN
out July 14th
[Desc: a promotional flyer for my poetry collection that reads PRE ORDER OPEN JUNE 17th 2024. The background is spruce green, the text is coral pink. To the right is the book’s cover, a glossy black background with the words “What was eaten was given” over a piece of liver meat laid out on a sketched white table setting (plate, knife, fork) and the text “poems by Wilhelmina “Billie” Sainwood” at the bottom right]
June 14, 2024 at 11:40 PM
Reposted by Billie Sainwood
lindsaykingmiller.bsky.social
Friends near and far! TOMORROW, at 7:30 Eastern, you can catch Billie Wood @billiewrites.bsky.social and me in a virtual reading and conversation about queer horror for Pride. I'm really excited about this one and I hope you'll join us!
www.charisbooksandmore.com/event/z-word...
The Z Word: Lindsay King-Miller in conversation with Billie Sainwood | Charis Books & More and Charis Circle
www.charisbooksandmore.com
June 11, 2024 at 4:49 PM
billiewrites.bsky.social
New blog post up! Link in replies!
We talk about Vincent Price, opera, and how much I miss my girlfriend.
Screenshot of a link: 5/23/2024 Airports, Horror, and the Love that Bleeds Read More
May 26, 2024 at 8:33 AM
billiewrites.bsky.social
I’m doing a Zoom Show with some of my friends and peers. Hear me do TWO (2) poems about A Star Is Born!

Link below
May 3, 2024 at 5:50 AM
billiewrites.bsky.social
New blog post up! Korean cinema! Ghosts! Long Distance Relationships!

Link in bio and down-thread
5/2/2024 Clay Pots and the Haunted Wilderness: Week 4 of National Poetry Month
May 3, 2024 at 5:47 AM
billiewrites.bsky.social
New blog post is up! As I continue to chronicle my experience of writing 30 poems in 30 days. Get the URL from my bio!
4/23/2024 Hardcore Slump: Week 3 of National Poetry Month
April 25, 2024 at 3:11 AM