Wolf ACT

As a child, AJ Romriell strove to obey his Mormon leaders’ every rule. If he was faithful enough, he was taught, God would remove temptations. But at nineteen, returning home early from his mission after admitting his attraction to men, he was forced to make a decision: either stay the course or work to accept himself fully and risk losing family, community, and the Church he’d devoted his life to. His decision to pursue radical acceptance would turn out to be just one step toward reclaiming his life.

Through linked personal essays crafted in lyric, fabulist, and fragmented forms, Wolf Act charts a young man’s transformation. Weaving together wolfish fairy tales and mythology, Mormon theology and practice, piercings and tattoos, cave explorations, ghost stories, and more, Romriell explores a childhood of hiding, a familial reckoning, a religious exodus, and an effort to understand one’s life as worth saving--even when the meaning of the word ＂saving＂ must be reimagined.

AJ Romriell is a writer, photographer, and educator who has published work in Black Warrior Review, Brevity, Great River Review, and elsewhere. Originally from Sandy, Utah, he currently lives in Columbus, Ohio, with his partner and their feline companion, Sokka the Wildercat.