Different With Him is a collection of haphazard masculinities, an effort to find belonging, a lovesong for genders and genres in flux. Each poem doubles as a late-night text for the trans boys who reinvent the world together at 1 a.m., the cis boys who could use a little reinvention themselves, and the subcultures that can empower or break them. From classic inner-voice scenes to an overly dramatic debate at an anarchist convergence, this chapbook describes the ephemera of a transmasculine adolescence, the joys and failings of homosociality, and the experiences that negate and reinvent us.
Different With Him by mk zariel is a rare blue jewel—part hymn to transmasculinity and desire itself, part nonlinear stream of consciousness that flows like running water, part 3 a.m. lyric. Don’t let the brevity of this book fool you—it unfolds in ever deepening layers, and I find some new wonder every time I revisit it. Different with Him is highly worth a read, then another, then another, because these lines will seep into your bones.
—Lazarus Halliwell, author of fear not the brave pain and singing molten gold to the morning
zariel’s language swings wildly between a winning colloquiality, a shimmering curtain of jargon from the discourses that immerse its author (anarchism, antireproductive queer politics, trans rights, Discordian theology, youth lib, online existence), and startling moments of direct and frank image-work that bypass conscious thought to convey instantly the felt texture of life in the third decade of the twenty-first century on a burning world. Built around a brilliant central sonnet sequence that traces with precision and vulnerability the grandeur and despair of a fleeting intellectual romance, Different With Him is an urgent map of boyhood, selfhood, rage, loneliness, and love.
—Kit Eginton, editor of Hypocrite Reader
mk zariel’s Different With Him reminds us that transitions are both necessary and healing. If you’ve ever felt yourself in the middle, then this book is for you. zariel turns loss of a relationship into learning, reflection, becoming anew, and standing on one’s own.
—Ashley Elizabeth, author of A Family Thing and Red Line
Different With Him is a collection of haphazard masculinities, an effort to find belonging, a lovesong for genders and genres in flux. Each poem doubles as a late-night text for the trans boys who reinvent the world together at 1 a.m., the cis boys who could use a little reinvention themselves, and the subcultures that can empower or break them. From classic inner-voice scenes to an overly dramatic debate at an anarchist convergence, this chapbook describes the ephemera of a transmasculine adolescence, the joys and failings of homosociality, and the experiences that negate and reinvent us.
Different With Him by mk zariel is a rare blue jewel—part hymn to transmasculinity and desire itself, part nonlinear stream of consciousness that flows like running water, part 3 a.m. lyric. Don’t let the brevity of this book fool you—it unfolds in ever deepening layers, and I find some new wonder every time I revisit it. Different with Him is highly worth a read, then another, then another, because these lines will seep into your bones.
—Lazarus Halliwell, author of fear not the brave pain and singing molten gold to the morning
zariel’s language swings wildly between a winning colloquiality, a shimmering curtain of jargon from the discourses that immerse its author (anarchism, antireproductive queer politics, trans rights, Discordian theology, youth lib, online existence), and startling moments of direct and frank image-work that bypass conscious thought to convey instantly the felt texture of life in the third decade of the twenty-first century on a burning world. Built around a brilliant central sonnet sequence that traces with precision and vulnerability the grandeur and despair of a fleeting intellectual romance, Different With Him is an urgent map of boyhood, selfhood, rage, loneliness, and love.
—Kit Eginton, editor of Hypocrite Reader
mk zariel’s Different With Him reminds us that transitions are both necessary and healing. If you’ve ever felt yourself in the middle, then this book is for you. zariel turns loss of a relationship into learning, reflection, becoming anew, and standing on one’s own.
—Ashley Elizabeth, author of A Family Thing and Red Line
Title: Different With Him
Author: mk zariel
Publisher: Rockwood Press
Released: 2026 - March
Format: chapbook, acid-free paper, silk cover
Pages: 24
Price: $10
ISBN: 978-1-59498-590-4
