New work debuts!

Greetings from COVID-19 Isolationtown. Hope everyone has found their quarantine groove, made playlists, binge watch agendas and progress on that stack of unread books on the end table.

I’ve had a few new poems debuts lately. First, “The New Math” debuted at the awesome Juked. This poem opens Twang and manages to touch on many of my favored themes. Second, “Covenant” – also from Twang – debuts in issue 7 of the always amazing Impossible Archetype. Mark does an spectacular job of gathering work from a broad range of LGBTQIA+ contributors. Really, mind boggling yet spirit lifting!

Meanwhile, I’ve been anthologized again. This time, in the first ever Bending Genres Anthology 2018/2019, from the team at Bending Genres Journal! My poem “Me, Too, Once, and I Could Only Make an Outline” appears on page 21!

Stay safe everyone and keep reading!

Giving Up the Dew

I love this poem: “Giving Up the Dew” comes from my unpublished chapbook Back Holler Magic, which is finished and submitted to a few publishers, even as I write more poems for it, lol.

I can’t thank Alien Magazine enough for publishing this poem. It’s traveled through many versions and forms, but its story, interior struggle and dark magic have remained the same.

Writing in the Time of COVID-19

What strange times.

While work continues on Sagittarius A* and its June release,  I confess I’ve written or revised very little lately. The anxiety overtaking us clogs the air like grease. What little oxygen remains is needed for the occasional deep breath of calm.

I have been trying to write brief, electric poems about connection and desire, to counteract the isolation required during COVID-19. I’ve manage a couple that are halfway decent. I think. I’m someone who can and does spend a lot of time alone, but I also love my nights out at a bar.

I hope everyone is staying safe, checking in on friends and loved ones, not going insane from working remotely with colleagues who find Teams, Slack and Zoom as vexing as quantum astrophysics. The mute button is your friend!

Poetry, Afield 2.0

Poetry, Afield is back! April 19. 3-6pm. Sunday Funday poetry!

Reading!

Join us tomorrow night at Downbound Books in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the Northside neighborhood, for the Inkwell Open Poetry Mic ft Ben Kline from 7-9PM. I’ll be reading some favorites and new work, as well as a few pieces from Sagittarius A*!

New Poems and News

The past week saw a few poems debut.

First, Bending Genres Journal published three poems on which I collaborated with Tyler French, a poet and all-around cool guy from DC. The poems “Choke,” “Sir, Yes Sir” and “Serenade” came from our explorations of all the modern terms and paradigms gay men are employing in the digital age. Tyler also originates from southern Ohio and we’re going to explore that in some future collaborative work.

Then,

Updating/Reflecting

I took a few minutes to reorganize the Publications page. I divided it by years and added some non-writing things to it, such as my appearance on USA Today’s “I Am an American” series.

One thing that struck me – when I resumed writing seriously in 2012, I had no idea where it would take me.