People like us deserve a steady, ordinary kind of love, and the right for it to be seen.The First 184 Days is a record of how it begins. The small moments that turn into a life with someone. The late-night talks that slowly become promises. The quiet proof that love can be both soft and certain at once.Through poems, letters, and bits of narrative, Donatello Dreakford traces the unfolding of a queer relationship over six months of change. He wrote most of it in secret while his partner slept or worked, collecting the tenderness and uncertainty that come with building something real. What began as a private gift became a portrait of devotion built on patience, presence, and the quiet bravery of being known and still chosen.The First 184 Days is a queer and trans love story told with truth and warmth. It is an invitation to believe that real love lives inside the ordinary days we keep choosing to stay. Donatello Dreakford is a Black trans writer and artist currently based in Seattle, Washington. He is the author of Man Enough for Myself: A Poetry Memoir, and the upcoming release The First 184 Days. His work attempts to mix poetry and prose to reflect on the complexity of growing into oneself, masculinity, and survival through the lens of Black and queer life.Outside of writing, he creates and performs as D'Mon, a drag artist shaped by Seattle's ballroom community and the chosen family that came with it. His time on stage continues to influence his writing, and a belief in art as something meant to connect people.Man Enough for Myself marks his debut collection, praised for its raw honesty and conversational style. The First 184 Days, a queer and trans love story told through poems and letters, will be released in November 2025. He is currently developing All the Ways I've Been, a new project that examines the intersection of different Black identities and what it means to move between them as a transgender individual.
