Welcome.

I’m robin, a bewitched songbird trained in creative writing & small group facilitation. I am a white settler in New York’s Hudson Valley—ancestral lands of the Esopus people—where I practice songwriting, tarot, foraging, grief, wonder, & mutually nurturing relationship. I’m queer, trans, autistic, & mad.

I was born in the United States, in southern California in 1991 & grew up primarily in New Jersey, Delaware, & Pennsylvania. My paternal ancestors before settling on this continent were Polish Jews—in the years preceding the historically accepted onset of World War II & the Shoah, those who were resourced enough emigrated from Poland to Chicago, & later to Los Angeles. German & English lineages dominate my maternal ancestry, which in family lore includes connections to the 1620 Mayflower voyage & a cousin of Mary Todd Lincoln. I am a younger sibling to one biological brother & an elder sibling to a transracially adopted step-brother who passed into ancestry under the weight of anti-black hegemony in 2021. Besides my surviving sibling, I am estranged from living family members. The paradoxical nature of my inheritances—marginalizations, oppressions, dominances, materials, skills, & deficits—is embedded in my artistic & [re]generative practices.

I am chronically un(der)employed & many of my employment experiences have been traumatizing. I am held aloft by the generosity of loving community & the luck of inheritances from my composted relationships. My music & language practices aid me in digesting mutuality in relational sustenance & rupture. I share the artifacts of these practices as wishes & spells toward aiding you in sustaining harmonious practices wherever you find belonging.

On Patreon, I freely share & invite responses to my music, writing, & other offerings considering play, foolishness, recreation, monstrosity, collectivity, embodiment, madness, ecstasy, grief, mutuality, disability, etymology, despair, liberation, isolation, neglect, dreams, queerness, rest, transformation, failure, & other subjects. My Patreon will never exclude anybody based on an inability to donate, so material support from financially secure donors is needed. All contributions go toward meeting my needs & sustaining my practices in community. Whenever my income exceeds my expenses, I will communicate with donors about redistributing surplus funds.

My writing & teaching have been institutionally recognized & supported by: The Stadler Center for Poetry & Literary Arts, Arizona State University’s Master of Fine Arts Program, The Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing, National University of Singapore’s University Scholars Programme, Susquehanna University’s Writers Institute, Johnsonburg Camp & Conference Center, & others.

I extend gratitude to the mentors, peers, & friends—too numerous to name—who support[ed] me within & beyond these institutional settings.

Thank you for meeting me here.

[y]ours,
robin herold (she/it)