In 2022, Nico Wilkinson ’16 gained widespread recognition online for their poem “trans day of i love you.” They are now publishing their debut full-length poetry collection, The Weeds Grow Anyway – a meditation on queerness, survival, and audacity in the face of adversity.
“A lot of the poetry within is very personal and specific to my experiences as a queer person living in Colorado Springs, while also reflecting on my experiences of navigating queer identity, mental health, and what it means to be a human in a time of ecological and political unrest,” says Wilkinson. “I find myself mostly navigating how best to move through this time, to find a balance between being informed about the state of the world at large and still finding hope in the little things.”
Amidst a time of heightened anti-trans rhetoric and violence, The Weeds Grow Anyway explores what it means to live and grow in inhospitable landscapes, drawing inspiration from both local flora and the trans community. Through nature-infused metaphor and poignant reflection, the collection asks: what makes something – or someone – a weed? And the writing, and the physical book itself, carries a strong connection to CC.
“The book includes recent revisions of poems I wrote for my thesis in 2016 when I was a Poetry major at CC, including the poem “to code enforcement” which features the titular lines ‘[The weeds] will grow anyway. They always do.’,” says Wilkinson.
The summer before their senior year, Wilkinson took the Book Arts and Letterpress class at CC and discovered their love of printing. “My time at CC has informed me as a writer and printer, both through the company of my peers, and under the mentorship of Jane Hilberry and Idris Goodwin, who were instrumental in my development as a poet and performer, and the mentorship of Aaron Cohick, the head of The Press at CC at the time, who ignited my love of printing,” says Wilkinson.
The year after they graduated, Wilkinson collaborated with Goodwin on a poetry chapbook entitled Inauguration, which was written between the 2016 election and the inauguration the following January. It was a book with a handmade linocut cover that was printed at The Press at CC by Han Sayles ’15, and was then released at the FAC in January 2017.
“The experience of releasing Inauguration, of self-publishing a beautiful book through collaboration with other artists and the support of resources like The Press at Colorado College, is also what led to me taking the approach I did for self-publishing my first full-length solo publication” says Wilkinson. “That experience provided a blueprint for what was possible as a poet and artist.”
In the following years, Wilkinson visited The Press at CC on multiple occasions to print posters and anthologies, primarily for a collaborative project entitled Prickly Pear Printing, in which they, along with friends Joy Young and Briana Noonan, sought to publish narratives of queer love, joy, and growth. In 2024, Wilkinson was offered a residency at The Press, allowing them access to print the covers of The Weeds Grow Anyway.
“I am eternally grateful to Aaron Cohick and Jillian Sico for making this invaluable resource available to Colorado College alumni. I am just as much an alum of The Press at Colorado College as I am an alum of Colorado College, which I think is evident from just how much time I have spent on campus in the years since graduating, specifically because I have continued to create in The Press.”
In celebration of the book’s publication, a launch is being held at the Marie Walsh Sharpe Gallery at the Ent Center for the Arts on June 27. Wilkinson will then tour the book at local venues and work on distribution in bookstores. They are also recording the corresponding audiobook that will be released later this year.
And after that? “The big project on the horizon will be with UCCS’ Heller Center,” says Wilkinson. “I am the lead artist for the Heller Center’s Arts Exchange, which partners UCCS student artists with a community artist to create together and assemble an exhibition in the Heller Center gallery, to open in November.”
In addition to this work, Wilkinson has set up their own at-home printing studio thanks to the support of everyone who preordered The Weeds Grow Anyway and Morgan Calderini of Ladyfingers Letterpress.
“Once the book is finished, I’ll be working to get the press operational with the help of my friend and local press mechanic, Jess Snow, which will be instrumental in the creation of my work for the Heller Center Arts Exchange,” says Wilkinson. “I can’t wait!”