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.

A Kindness

I am so grateful to A.M. Hayden, author of American Saunter, for this immense kindness.

I have been enjoying her daily book posts on Facebook. And now my book Rattle and Numb and some of my older poems have made their way into one of them. 

A few notes on these poems:

“Judge Marks”: This poem was written in late 2018 around the time of the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Its title is a play on the name Mark Judge, who was a friend of Kavanaugh's.

“Half Write”: I forget exactly when I wrote this poem, but I recall pulling it out of one of my journals to include in my chapbook Loss and Foundering, which NightBallet Press published in 2018. The full Eliot quotation is: 'As things are, and as fundamentally they must always be, poetry is not a career, but a mug’s game.' [from The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism, first delivered as The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures for 1932-33 at Harvard].

“Align”: I began this poem in 2008 and finalized it (or at least gave it a title) in the fall 2011 before it was published that December in The Artistic Muses by True Colors Press. Between then and Rattle & Numb, it also appeared in my chapbook It Takes More Than Chance to Make Change, which The Poet's Haven published in 2013.

“Art Achoke”: This was an impromptu poem written in 2010 and posted on my blog. It was first collected in my chapbook The Eater of the Absurd, published in 2012 by NightBallet Press.

 

April 5th 2025: A Gathering of Laurels III in South Euclid

Ohio Poets Laureate to read from their work for National Poetry Month

Beginning in December 2024, I chose to take six months off from giving featured readings in order to focus on 1) getting up to speed in my new role as vice president for the Ohio Poetry Association, 2) finishing the manuscript I promised some time ago to New Generation Beat Publications, and 3) catching up on myriad other long-suffering tasks.

But I'm making one exception, on April 5th, to read with Doc Janning and other Poets Laureate from around Ohio at my favorite (and local) public library. This will be a free event, but they hope you will register here if you wish to attend.

Featured poets:

John Burroughs, recent Beat Poet Laureate of Ohio and the U.S.
Sandra Feen, recent Beat Poet Laureate of Ohio
Siaara Freeman, recent Heights Poet Laureate
Doc Janning, Inaugural Poet Laureate of South Euclid and Third Poet Laureate of Cuyahoga County
Jeremy Jusek, Poet Laureate of Parma
Jonie McIntire, Poet Laureate of Lucas County
Ray McNiece, recent Poet Laureate of Cleveland Heights

https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/12795676. 

A Gathering of Laurels III
5 April 2025 at 3 p.m.

South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch
Cuyahoga County Public Library
1876 South Green Road
South Euclid, Ohio 44121

[4/20/2025 note: Siaara and Ray weren't able to make it after all.]

Video: Walt Whitman Birthplace Association's Poets Building Bridges on 12/14/24

My last reading of 2024 was for the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association with some incredible poets: Mimi German, Karlostheunhappy, Pankhuri Sinha, Bronwyn Carver, Dave Morgan, David Wigmore, Rachel Appleton, and Judith Mansour. Here's the video. [My poems begin around the 1:16:30 mark.]

 

 

I read five poems: "Electric Miasma," "Flagging," "Potential Energy," "What They Did," and Dianne Borsenik's "Serious Flannel," with my computer unexpectedly crashing and restarting along the way.

 

So many thanks to WWBA Poet-in-Residence George Wallace for putting this together and to WWBA Secretary Robert Savino for moderating.

 

Video permalink: https://youtu.be/eE_L-vj0EoM.

Books I Finished Reading in 2024

According to Goodreads, I read 120 books in 2024. I actually read more if you count a handful that are not yet published and therefore not listed on Goodreads. And then there are the largely and barely read books, the ones I'm still in the middle of.

For the full list of the books I finished reading in 2024, click here.

Video: Me reading "What They Did" at the 2023 Beat Poetry Festival

As we prepare for a second Donald Trump presidential term, I am finally getting around to sharing the video of me reading my poem "What They Did" at the National and International Beat Poetry Festival on 2 September 2023 in Barkhamsted, Connecticut. Recording by Paul Richmond. This poem appears in my recent book, The Wrest of the Worthwhile. 

Video permalink: https://youtu.be/DeEIrvf6iO0

My poem "A Matter of Life in Death" published in Common Threads 2024

My poem "A Matter of Life in Death" appears in this lovely new issue of Common Threads, edited by Steve Abbott and published by the Ohio Poetry Association. So many good poets represented here!

Learn more and/or get yours at ohiopoetryassn.org/publications.

Become an OPA member at ohiopoetryassn.org/membership.

My poems recently published in The Long Islander, Ain't No Dead Beats Around Here, and What Is in John's Basement?

I am so pleased to have a poem in each of these recent publications:

 

"In the Wake" in the 10 October 2024 issue of The Long Islander newspaper (with gratitude to George Wallace),

 

"Answered by What It Is" in What Is in John's Basement? (with gratitude to Dane Ince & Eyepublishewe),

 

"Solar Assignation" in Ain't No Dead Beats Around Here (with gratitude to Fin Hall & Like a blot from the blue).

12/14: Walt Whitman Birthplace Association presents Poets Building Bridges on Zoom

This Saturday, 12/14, at noon Eastern on Zoom, I will be one of three Cleveland poets (the others are Judith Mansour & Dianne Borsenik) participating in a Poets Building Bridges event hosted by the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association. 

Flowers of Litter poets Mimi German, Karlostheunhappy, & Pankhuri Sinha - and Bolton UK poets Dave Morgan, Linda Downs, David Wigmore & Laura Taylor - will also be sharing their work. So many thanks to WWBA Writer-in-Residence George Wallace for creating this world poetry triangulation project and for including us.

More info: https://www.waltwhitman.org/event/poets-building-bridges-december-14-2024-flower-litter-poets-bolton-uk-cleveland-poets/.

If you miss it, a recording of the event will be archived on the WWBA's YouTube channel.  

 

My poem "Potential Energy" published in New Generation Beats 2024

I'm overjoyed and grateful that New Generation Beat Publications included my poem "Potential Energy" in this year's National Beat Poetry Foundation anthology, New Generation Beats 2024.

This volume is dedicated to the memory of Andy Clausen and also features poems by Kim Acrylic, Michael D. Amitin, Martin Appleby, Tohm Bakelas, Randy Barnes, Carlos Barrera, B. Elizabeth Beck, Bengt O Björklund, Chris Bodor, Patricia Carragon, Wendy Cartwright, Michael Ceraolo, Claire Conroy, Lesley Constable, Jason Conway, Chris Dean, Lee Desrosiers, William F. DeVault, John Dorsey, Michael E. Duckwall, Carlos Raúl Dufflar, Mercedes Dugger, Les Epstein, Sandra Feen, Bryan Franco, Dayna Genevieve, Mimi German, Fin Hall, Brian Hassett, Joan Hawkins, David Henri, Roxanne Hoffman, Kathleen Hulser, Amie Hyson, Dane Ince, Larry Jaffe, Alex S. Johnson, Karlostheunhappy, Eliot Katz, Joe Kidd, Debbie Tosun Kilday, Tom Lagasse, Scott Laudati, Christen Lee, Mark Lipman, Sheila Lowe-Burke, PD Lyons, Patricia Martin, Angel L. Martinez, Amy Christine Matus, Daniel McTaggart, Amanda R. Morningstar, Jared Morningstar, Jacob R. Moses, MW Murphy, Andrée Myers, Ron Myers, Ben Nardolilli, J.D. Nelson, Marc Olmsted, Carlo Parcelli, Stasha Powell, RescuePoetix, Paul Richmond, April Ridge, Jason Ryberg, Sarah Sarai, Deborah C. Segal, Virginia Shreve, Jay Simpson, Michael Sindler, Megha Sood, Belinda Subraman, Kevin Patrick Sullivan, Igor Pop Trajkov, Tammi J. Truax, J.R. Turek, Tommy Twilite, Chrios Vannoy, Jon Velleux, Chryssa Velissariou, Merritt Waldon, George Wallace, Jeff Weddle, Ron Whitehead, Linda Bratcher Wlodyka, Hiromi Yoshida, Aprilia Zank, and many more. Editing and cover design by NBPF CEO Debbie Tosun Kilday with further editing and formatting by Human Error Publishing.

Click here to order.

I wrote this poem on 22 May 2024. I also want to acknowledge a debt of gratitude to my Renshi Sunshine group (moderated by Wayne Swanger) and to one of its participants, Jeremy Jusek. I've been participating in two email renshi groups this year. How it works is that when it's my turn to write a poem for one of these, I must use the last line of the previous poet's submission as either my title or my first line. So although they are otherwise totally independent poems, the first line of my "Potential Energy" happens to also be the last line of a Jeremy Jusek poem called "The Heat Death of the Universe."