Education · PRESS RELEASE
Finishing Line Press announces the publication of Skeletons, Sequins, and Kin, a chapbook of poems by Dr. Wednesdae Reim Ifrach
Finishing Line Press has announced the publication of Skeletons, Sequins, and Kin, a debut poetry chapbook by art therapist and counselor Wednesdae Reim Ifrach. Exploring themes of gender reclamation, somatic healing, and nightlife sanctuaries, the collection maps the resilience of the queer body and the transformative power of chosen family.
GEORGETOWN, Ky. — October 30, 2026 — Finishing Line Press officially announces the publication of Skeletons, Sequins, and Kin (ISBN: 979-8-89990-732-6, Paperback, $17.99), the debut poetry chapbook by clinician, researcher, and poet Wednesdae Reim Ifrach.
The 40-page collection compiles 24 original poems organized into four distinct six-poem movements:
"How the Flesh Learns Its Shape" — poems examining early identity, medical paperwork, and bodily autonomy, including "Birth Certificate in Someone Else's Handwriting" and "My Body Is the First Protest Sign."
"The Blood We Claim" — works centering ancestral ties, family friction, and non-traditional kinship, including "Chosen Family, Cross-Stitch and Scar Tissue."
"Nightlife as Sanctuary" — verses chronicling community spaces, dance floors, and nightlife as sites of survival, featuring "Doorways Without Judgment" and "Sweat as Armor."
"What We Keep in Our Bones" — reflections on enduring scars, self-naming, and resilience, culminating in "My Name Is a Blade You Can't Unlearn" and "Every Scar a Love Letter."
The book was produced under the editorial direction of publisher Leah Huete de Maines and editor Christen Kincaid. The publication features original cover artwork painted by the author, cover design by Elizabeth Maines McCleavy, and author photography by Megan Wooding.
Wisteria Deng, published poet and Founding Artistic Director of Vermillion Theater Inc., provided advance critical praise for the collection:
"Wednesdae's talent knows no bounds—their work flows across mentorship, healing, community-building, advocacy, and creativity. Skeletons, Sequins, and Kin is the consummation of that gift: a testament to the beauty in human connections, an act of preservation for the transience and tenderness that soak our souls, and ultimately, a manifesto, a prayer, a chime. In the poet's own words, this chapbook is 'meant to be carried carefully/like a knife you trust.' Wednesdae's poems echo Tony Kushner's reminder that 'In a murderous time / the heart breaks and breaks / and lives by breaking.' And still, through every scar, they insist on more life. Give us more life."
About Author Wednesdae Reim Ifrach:
Wednesdae Reim Ifrach is a full-time faculty member in the School of Behavioral and Community Health at Moravian University and the co-owner of Rainbow Recovery, providing clinical counseling, art therapy, and clinical supervision. Reim Ifrach founded the nation's first 2SLGBTQIA+ Virtual Eating Disorder Program and contributed to survivor-led community art projects including the Monument Quilt (housed at the Baltimore Museum of Art) and MoMA's Artful Practices for Well-Being series. Their peer-reviewed scholarship has appeared in Human Arena and the Routledge anthology Queer Worldmaking in Art Therapy, with an upcoming clinical title, Queer Expressions: Expressive Art and Somatic Therapy Practices for Healing Body Trauma, published by North Atlantic Books.
Product Details & Ordering Information:
Title: Skeletons, Sequins, and Kin
Author: Wednesdae Reim Ifrach
Publisher: Finishing Line Press (PO Box 1626, Georgetown, KY 40324)
Release Date: October 30, 2026
ISBN: 979-8-89990-732-6
Price: $17.99 USD
Binding: Softcover / Paperback, 40 pages
Distribution: Available directly through Finishing Line Press (www.finishinglinepress.com) and on Amazon.com.