Poet Canese Jarboe on the patio where, they say, “we host drag shows, and my partner and I are committed to co-creating it as a space for trans and queer empowerment and art.” (photo by Jim Barcus)
The Kansas City poet has been awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship for their poems about being trans in rural spaces
Soybean fields and cattle, swarming with insects, wild plants and a distinct lack of light pollution. This rurality is what poet and educator Canese Jarboe grew up around, and though they no longer live in a rural area, it is the focal point of their poetic voice.
In 2025, as shifts in funding and legislation toward LGBTQ+ groups and numerous others are being rolled out at breakneck speed, Jarboe has been awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship for $25,000. After nearly a decade of applying, Jarboe is one of 35 winners from across the country. It is both an honor and an enigma for a trans person to receive such an award at a time when anti-trans rhetoric and legislation are at a fever pitch.
“Particularly because so much of my work has to do with the experience of being trans in rural spaces, it feels fortifying to receive a federal grant at a time when this country or government is particularly hostile to trans people,” says Jarboe. “It’s an interesting predicament that they would disperse a federal grant to me and some other trans and nonbinary people this year.”
The application process for the award is a “notoriously maddening one,” according to Jarboe. Applicants must navigate complex, outdated government websites and then narrow their submission to just a few pages of work. Anonymous applications are then read by a panel of experts in their field. “Being read that way without your name attached is an honor,” explains Jarboe. It showed them that a rural, trans person who is the first in their family to attend college is a necessary and valued voice. Amidst this elation, however, is uncertainty. At the time of this writing, Creative Writing Fellowship funds still have not been disbursed, and executive orders have been signed targeting the NEA and grant recipients.
Jarboe’s book of poetry, “Sissy,” was published by Garden Door Press in November 2024. This book includes their own experience of queer rurality, including imagery of Ozark nature interspersed with that of transness. “Canese’s poetic structures are exciting, a vivid and unexpected use of language. But what I may love most are the subjects: queer elders, gay rodeos, a wild nature that demonstrates that trans and queer are norms,” says Leslie VonHolten, director of grants and outreach at Humanities Kansas. “As a person who also grew up rural, I know this as a reality that is rarely if ever depicted.”
The titular work, “Sissy,” delves into the story of Charles Hancock, an organizer of the Missouri Gay Rodeo from the late ’80s to the early 2000s. Jarboe and Hancock met in Kansas City and spoke for hours about Hancock’s life and involvement in the rodeo. Jarboe is drawn to gay rodeos as an intersection of rurality and queerness. “There’s a community to be had there where in rural spaces it has been and continues to be hard to find,” Jarboe explains. “It’s not because there’s a lack of queer and trans people in rural spaces, not at all, but for a lot of reasons, it’s hard to get together and feel like you’re allowed to gather in this way or compete in these events where you might not physically be allowed to compete in your event in a traditional rodeo.” Gay rodeos represent both transgression of and adherence to rural traditions. Jarboe adds, “It evokes this feeling of transgressing these rural or folk traditions that people hold really dear and think you can’t share in if you’re queer or trans.”
Jarboe is working ardently to build community as a salve to the unpredictability of the moment. They said, “It is right now abundantly clear that we’re kind of on our own. It’s important to help people feel confident that there are people who will take care of you if you have a problem, and also we’ll teach you how to take care of some things that you maybe never felt like you could or never had access to learn.”
Jarboe lives and works with their partner Andi Montee in St. Joseph, where the two are building a space for LGBTQ+ people to be themselves and bring joy to each other. Once a month, Mokaska Coffee hosts Queer Joy nights. What started as a community grievance meeting has morphed into themed nights including crafting and arm wrestling. Community members also use the space to teach each other everyday skills, like car repair and DIY zine making. Jarboe says, “Building community has been integral right now and letting people know that we’re here if they’re afraid to be outside and be in public.”
Using this community building and mutual aid approach, Jarboe is also starting a micro-grant program, aimed particularly at Black and Brown queer and trans artists in Northwest Missouri. The program is called Prairie Culture. If and when Jarboe is awarded NEA funds, a portion of the funds will go to kick off this program.
Regardless of the outcome, the experience of being awarded such a competitive and challenging award has been moving for Jarboe. They say, “It’s such a rare honor that it’s pretty unbelievable to find out that your work has been chosen as representative of the kind of art that they want to support and see. So it’s humbling in a lot of ways.”
