July 3: Open Air Poets in Cleveland Heights feat. Salinger, Chernin, & Burroughs

This Thursday, July 3rd, I'll have the distinct pleasure of reading with the amazing Michael Salinger and Shelley Chernin during Open Air Poets on the lawn outside the Coventry Village branch library in Cleveland Heights.

So many thanks to Mac's Backs-Books and the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Libraries.

June 28: Social Justic Poetry at ComFest in Columbus

This Saturday, 28 June at 5:50 p.m. during the 53rd annual Community Festival in Columbus, friends of the Ohio Poetry Association will present Eat Our Words: Social Justice Poetry, featuring readings by Susann Moeller, John Burroughs, Rikki Santer, Christopher Minton, Kathleen S. Burgess, and Charlene Fix on the Peace and Healing Pavilion at ComFest.

From Dr. Moeller's write up: "Besides a declared national Pride and Black Lives Matter Month, June has also been declared the Rebuild your Life Month and June 28 in particular commemorates the Ukraine Constitution Day in the United States. EOW’s poets address the reasons for those dedications and our collective as well as individual experiences with them - emotionally, culturally, socio-economically, geographically, and politically — whether hard to digest or comforting, we are looking at them under the magnifying glass of poetry which serves as yet another tool to promote inquiry, curiosity, ethics, and compassion."

ComFest happens at Goodale Park, W. Goodale Street, 43215. For more information, including the full three-day schedule, please visit https://www.comfest.com/comfest-2025/.

June 27: With A.M. Hayden and friends on Zoom for How to Tie Tobacco launch party

Join us at 7 p.m. Eastern on Friday the 27th at the online book launch party for A.M. Hayden (Windy Chicken Poet)'s chapbook How to Tie Tobacco (from Wild Ink Publishing). This event will also feature short readings by Edward Vidaurre, john compton, Eric Paul Shaffer, Furaha Henry-Jones, Kika Dorsey, Jamey Dunham, Laurie Anderson, Leroy D. Bean, Angela Yuriko Smith, and me.

Tune in at https://sinclair.zoom.us/j/83689495716. 

June 14: Ellen Austin-Li & John Burroughs in Sandusky

I very much look forward to sharing poems from the same mic as friend and Cincinnati poet Ellen Austin-Li this Saturday, June 14th, at Mr. Smith's Coffee House in Sandusky, Ohio. Her new book, Incidental Pollen, was just released by Madville Publishing. I am extremely grateful to Larry Smith, the Firelands Writing Center, and Bottom Dog Press for hosting us. 

I am selecting my poems in solidarity with the No Kings protests.

Coffeehouse Reading feat. John Burroughs & Ellen Austin-Li

Mr. Smith's Coffeehouse
140 Columbus Street
Sandusky, Ohio 44870

West Virginia Writers Conference: June 6th through 8th

I'm looking forward to being a presenter at this June's West Virginia Writers' Conference at Cedar Lakes in Ripley, West Virginia. I'll give workshops on Beat poetry, on delivering your poems at a microphone, and on assembling your poetry chapbook. 

Other speakers will include Colleen Anderson, Karen Salyer McElmurray, Burke Allen, Diane Tarantini, Kate Long, Tobi Doyle, Sheila Redling, Donna Kathryn Kelly, Kathleen Guire, Rhonda Browning White, Renee Nicholson, Tim Huguenin, Natalie Homer, Mike Dittman, and keynote author Homer Hickam.

More info at Conferences | West Virginia Writers, Inc.

I have a poem in Ohio Bards: Poetry Anthology 2025

I'm grateful that my poem, "Redux Isn’t Pronounced Ray Do, But That Hasn’t Stopped Me," appears in this new anthology published by Local Gems Press.

Ohio Bards: Poetry Anthology 2025 is available at localgemspoetrypress.com/ohio-bards-preorders.html.

Alas, I'll be out of town and unable to attend either of these Ohio launch events:

Saturday, May 24 at 7:30pm at
Hilton Garden Inn Columbus-University Area
3232 Olentangy River Rd, Columbus, OH 43202

Sunday May 25th at 5:30pm at
Holiday Inn Express Cincinnati West
5505 Rybolt Rd. Cincinnati, OH  45248

Video: A Gathering of Laurels III in South Euclid

April 5th, I had the privilege of being part of A Gathering of Laurels III at the Skirball Writers Center of the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library, along with recent Ohio Beat Poet Laureate Sandra Feen, current Parma Poet Laureate Jeremy Jusek, current Lucas County Poet Laureate Jonie McIntire, and current South Euclid and recent Cuyahoga County Poet Laureate Doc Janning. Here is the video, recorded and edited by Andy Matovic.

The poems I read (beginning at the 15-minute mark) are "Bully for You," 17 September 1966," "A Kiss for David Johansen," "Aim High," and "Needful Things," all written in March of this year during the Tupelo Press 30/30.

I have two poems in Orange is Not a Colour: Poems Against Totalitarianism

I'm grateful that my poems "Abbreviate" and "What They Did" appear in this new anthology alongside strong work by fine folk.

Edited by Fin Hall and published by Like a Blot from the Blue. 

Available at https://www.lulu.com/shop/fin-hall/orange-is-not-a-colour/paperback/product-4597v7y.html

A Confluence of Poems: 2025 Edith Chase Reading, May 16th at Kent State

Grateful to be part of this reading and have two poems ("Tenacity" and a revised version of "Falls") in this anthology.

So many thanks to RC Wilson and the Edith Chase Symposium Association!

Friday 16 May 2025 at 4 p.m., poets from all over Ohio will gather for a dramatic reading on the theme of tributaries. There will be music, and an anthology of the poems performed will be available at the reading.

Kent State College of Architecture + Environmental Design
132 S. Lincoln Street
Kent, Ohio 44240

More info at https://www.facebook.com/events/1007338138041745.

To procure a copy of A Confluence of Poems, contact RC Wilson at rcwilsonii@gmail.com.

Writing 30 Poems in 30 Days in March to Benefit Tupelo Press

I'm one of several poets who have signed up to write a poem a day through the month of March for Tupelo Press' 30/30 project. The results will be posted each morning on their website. (The last time I did this was in July 2022 and the poems I wrote then eventually made it into my book The Wrest of the Worthwhile). 

If you can donate any amount to Tupelo Press in appreciation of my effort and to support the important work they do, I will send you a free book.

You may donate at 
https://tupelopress.networkforgood.com/projects/247157-john-burroughs-s-fundraiser.

Read our daily poems at https://www.tupelopress.org/the-march-2025-30-30-page.