July 15th Poetry Speaks in Evansville; July 23-28 NFSPS Conference in Albuquerque

It's been a busy and beautiful past 24 hours between the Ohio Poetry Association's annual picnic and our OPA board retreat. Now I'm back home to take a couple of breaths before hitting the road again tomorrow.

Very much looking forward to sharing the stage with Jennifer Browne on Tuesday 7/15 during Poetry Speaks Dog Days at the Bokeh Lounge in Evansville, Indiana, before heading south to Vicksburg, Mississippi, and then west to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for the National Federation of State Poetry Societies' annual conference.

My new chapbook, Awash, released today as part of Pure Sleeze Press' summer drop

My latest chapbook, Awash, dropped at 1 a.m. from Pure Sleeze Press, alongside chaps by John Dorsey, Jason Ryberg, Scott Laudati, and Tony Brewer! A very limited edition. Collect them all at

puresleezepress.bigcartel.com.

Poems in Awash:

Faithwalking
Darshan
Shaktipat
Bilateral Heart Moon Resolution
Aura
Beacon
Hunger
A Wait, A Final Fall
Deluge
Critical Condition
A Superior Stimulant
But for Now
Potential Energy
Selkie

ISBN: 979-8-88596-400-5. 

So much gratitude to Jonathan S Baker, K Arizona, and Antoine Ball of Pure Sleeze.

July 12: Ohio Poetry Association Picnic at Sandy Ridge Reservation

Join us July 12th at the Lorain County Metroparks' Sandy Ridge Reservation in North Ridgeville, Ohio for the Ohio Poetry Association's annual picnic, featuring readings by co-Ohio Poet of the Year Barbara Sabol (Watermark) and recent Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate Ray McNiece (Bone Key Sutra), shorter readings by OPA members with recent publications, plus open mic.

Picnic begins at 12:30 p.m. in the park's Johnson Wetlands Center.

Preceded at 10 a.m. by OPA's quarterly business meeting (all members welcome).

6195 Otten Road
North Ridgeville, Ohio 44039

My "Silence in Mourning" is Poem of the Week in BeatLife Magazine

So much gratitude to BeatLife magazine for featuring my piece "Silence in Mourning" as their poem of the week. Though written in March, it appears, in an unforeseen coincidence, mere days after the death of my biological father, Arnold. 

Read the poem and its backstory at https://beatlife.org/poem-of-the-week-by-john-burroughs.

BeatLife is the official magazine of the National Beat Poetry Foundation, Inc.

Five of My Poems Appear in Book 2 of Bards of a Feather

I am grateful to curator Joji Mathew and editors Rhys Hughes and Beena Vijayalakshmy for their work on the lovely new book Bards of a Feather: Wings of Golden Syllables, Book 2 (published by Writingwaters Global), which includes five of my poems: "Elohim," "Call of Poetry," "With a Clatter," "Prophecies of Disaster," and "Jay in December."

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.