October 16-17: Writers Association of Northern Appalachia Conference in Wheeling

I very much look forward to being part of this weekend's WANA conference in Wheeling, West Virginia. They have a wonderful array of presenters lined up, including a celebration of Bottom Dog Press and Larry Smith and a keynote by Amy Jo Burns. There's still time to register at writersassociationofnorthernappalachia.org.

Jennifer Browne and I will present “[Re/De]construct/ion: Finding the Charge in Revisions,” an interactive generative workshop designed to help writers see revision in a new way. As she describes it, "Through creative prompts that encourage rearrangement, removal, and variation, participants will explore how revision can uncover fresh energy and meaning within a poem. Writers will have opportunities to experiment with multiple approaches to revision and share their work during the session."

New Ohio Poetry Association Regional Ambassadors Announced

So this happened. Though I recently completed my term as Ohio Poetry Association vice president, I remain committed to the organization's mission and work and am excited about serving in a new, more locally-focused role as their Northeast Ohio Regional Ambassador.

And check out the excellent folks who are serving their own Ohio regions alongside me:

Southwest Ohio: Zinna Stewart
Northwest Ohio: Sandra Rivers-Gill
Southeast Ohio: Bonnie Proudfoot
Central Ohio: Karen Scott
Outside of Ohio: Manuel Iris

September 24-26: 20th Annual Indie Lit Festival in Frostburg, Maryland

I am looking forward to being part of the Western Maryland Independent Literature Festival in beautiful Frostburg, Maryland, this week. I'll be representing Crisis Chronicles Press in the bookfair Saturday and we hope to have copies of John Dorsey's brand-new book, Trump Stamp, available, as well as our 2026 revised edition of my own The Wrest of the Worthwhile and other favorite CCP titles.

Besides the book fair, the festival also includes an SMPA/CLA Poetry Slam on Thursday, a kickoff reading featuring Stephen Haven on Friday, and an array of readings, workshops, and panels followed by an open mic and a punk show by The Downstrokes with the Subtastics on Saturday. For more details, please follow the Frostburg State University Center for Literary Arts on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/174701457615.

September 4 & 5: National Beat Poetry Foundation Honors and Virtual Festival Open Mic

I am grateful to be among those being honored by the National Beat Poetry Foundation this weekend. Hearty congratulations to all the other honorees. 

This year's award recipients:

Donovan: New Generation Beat Poet Laureate (2026-Lifetime)

John Burroughs: New Generation Beat Poet Laureate (2026-Lifetime)

Richard Modiano: New Generation Beat Poet Laureate (2026-Lifetime)

Ma Yongbo: New Generation Beat Poet Laureate (2026-Lifetime)

Belinda Subraman: New Generation Beat Poet Laureate (2026-Lifetime)

Joe Kidd: New Generation Beat Poet Laureate (2026-Lifetime)

Ian J. McKenzie: International Beat Poet Laureate (2026-2027)

Nancy Mercado: New Generation Beat Poet Laureate (2026-Lifetime)

Fadil Bajraj: New Generation Beat Poet Laureate (2026-Lifetime)

Prince A. McNally: State of New York Beat Poet Laureate (2026-2028)

Jared Morningstar: State of Michigan Beat Poet Laureate (2026-2028)

P.W. Covington: U.S. National Beat Poet Laureate (2026-2027)

Please email Debbie Tosun Kilday at NBPF15@gmail.com if you're interested in participating in the Saturday open mic.

Awash Returns Ashore!

[August UPDATE: These are now all sold out. Thank you so much to everyone who picked up a copy or two! The original post follows.]

My most recent chapbook, AWASH, was published in July 2025 in a very limited edition by Evansville's Pure Sleeze Press (alongside chaps by John Dorsey, Jason Ryberg, Scott Laudati, and Tony Brewer). AWASH has been out of print since that original run almost immediately sold out.

However.... 

I have just found (among things that I never fully unpacked from last year's road trip to the U.S. Southwest) FIFTEEN unread author copies of AWASH. I'm numbering them 1 through 15, signing them, and selling them on a first come, first serve basis to help fund my forthcoming revised and expanded edition of The Wrest of the Worthwhile.

While they last, if you want a copy (shipped to you free), send me $10 US via Venmo (@jesuscrisis), CashApp ($crisischronicles), PayPal (jc@crisischronicles.com), or cash/check to John Burroughs, 535 Parkside Blvd., Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA.

Reviews of AWASH:

"John's poems make me think and stop for a second and see things in a different way. Good writers do that."

     —Scot Young, author of Brautigan Meets Bukowski, All Around Cowboy, and more

In reading (and rereading) AWASH, I have only found more to admire in Burroughs' concision, precision, dexterity, and vulnerability. These are beautiful, tenderly-rendered poems.

     —Jennifer Browne, author of American Crow, The Salt of the Geologic World, and more

Throughout AWASH (Pure Sleeze Press, 2024), John Burroughs condenses the big stuff of life into fistfuls of resonant words like the strange debris that comes awash upon the shores of everyday consciousness. 

"Each step into abyss leads to

where feet become ungrounded,

hearts astounded."

(stanza 3, "Faithwalking")

"Potential Energy" from this beautifully produced poetry chapbook will be reprinted in the second volume of Stormwash: Environmental Poems (Seaker Press, August 2025).

     —Hiromi Yoshida, author of Umami, Icarus in Crete, Icarus Superstar, and more

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. 

Finally, deepest thanks to Jonathan S Baker, K Arizona, and Antoine Ball of Pure Sleeze for seeing this work into print in the first place.

July 28 on Zoom: Time to Arrive Open Mic features John Burroughs

I look forward to joining recent California Beat Poet Laureate Dane Ince and the Time to Arrive Open Mic community as their featured artist this Tuesday, July 28th at 9 p.m. Eastern (that's 6 p.m. Pacific and cetera). Find the Zoom link at eyepublishewe.com or click the photo below.

July 21: Poetry Speaks in Evansville, Indiana

Totally jazzed to be returning to Evansville, Indiana, on July 21st to read with the brilliant Jennifer Browne for Poetry Speaks at the Bokeh Lounge. Now I suppose I need to write a frog poem.

Bokeh Lounge, 1007 Parrett Street, Evansville, IN 47713

June 28: Allen Ginsberg Centennial Celebration in Bloomington, Indiana

On June 28th, 2026, The Writers Guild at Bloomington will present the Allen Ginsberg centennial celebration edition of Last Sunday Poetry, featuring Ian Uriel Girdley, John Burroughs, Joan Hawkins, Marilyn Wolf, Josh A. Brewer, Lylanne Musselman, and Mary Sexson at Morgenstern Books, 849 Auto Mall Road, in Bloomington, Indiana 47401.

More info: facebook.com/events/1319150030057218.

Video: "Bully for You" and "Aim High" at the 2025 National Beat Poetry Festival

Recorded by Paul Richmond for the National Beat Poetry Foundation on 29 August 2025 at Canton Town Hall in Collinsville, Connecticut. Introduction by Virginia Shreve. I was one of 20 Beat Poets Laureate who read that night and I shared two poems: "Bully for You" and "Aim High," both written for the Tupelo Press 30/30 in March 2025 (a few months before the death of my biological father, which I referenced in the introduction to my second poem).

Video permalink: https://youtu.be/UnEhDDLyYO8. 

April 23rd: Tongue-in Groove Jam featuring NE Ohio Poets Laureate

Ray McNiece and his Tongue-in-Groove Band will host a special Laureates edition of their regular Poetry Jam on Thursday 23 April, 6 p.m., at the new Visible Voice Books location at 4601 Lorain Avenue in Cleveland. Poets scheduled to appear include John Burroughs, Dianne Borsenik, and Doc Janning.

[UPDATE: Due to illness, I could not appear.]

April 4th: A Gathering of Laurels IV in South Euclid

I'll be part of this reading on Saturday, April 4th at the Cuyahoga County Public Library's South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch. South Euclid Poet Laureate Doc Janning will emcee. Free event. Other featured readers include Doc, Ray McNiece, and Jeremy Jusek. Register at
https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/13505877. 

March 14th: North Coast Voices Launch in Erie, Pennsylvania

Join Main Street Rag for the launch of their North Coast Voices anthology (ed. by Chuck Joy and M. Scott Douglass), in which two of my poems appear, on Saturday 14 March in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Or order here.

March 5th at Greedy Reads in Baltimore

Though for a number of reasons my Crisis Chronicles Press is not tabling at this week's 2026 AWP Conference & Bookfair, I am happy to be one of 30 poets taking part in Tupelo Press' annual 30/30 alumni offsite reading on March 5th, 6 p.m., at Greedy Reads Remington in Baltimore!

Poets scheduled to read: Jacqueline Kolosov, Kelly DuMar, Gabby Gilliam, Rob Vance, Yvette Perry, John Burroughs, Raphael Dagold, Adela Sinclair, Jackie Craven, Matilda Young, Elizabeth Wolf, Jennifer Browne, Flower Conroy, Haley Bossé, Garrett Brown, Dominic Leach, Thomas Page, Joanne Brown, Linda Michel-Cassidy, Allison Creighton, Rebecca Morton, Moriah Cohen, Shannon Vare Christine, Linda Sands, Sullivan Summer, Christine Sears Etter, Karen Arnold, Joanna Lee, Zoe Berger, Victoria Korth, and Amy Marquez.

RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/950345927326943.

Greedy Reads Remington 320 W. 29th Street Baltimore, Maryland 21211

Two poems in Main Street Rag's North Coast Voices 2025: Poems of the Great Lakes

I'm pleased that two of my poems, "Add My Tears to the Bodies of Water" and "So Much for Saving," will appear in North Coast Voices 2025: Poems of the Great Lakes, edited by Chuck Joy and M Scott Douglass for Main Street Rag Publishing. So many good poets are between these covers. And if you order now, the advance sale discount price is only $10. 

https://mainstreetragbookstore.com/product/north-coast-voices-2025-poetry-anthology/

Video: BeatLife's Belinda Subraman interviews John Burroughs

Thanks so much to BeatLife magazine and managing editor Belinda Subraman for the conversation! ♥️

At the end of the video, I read three father/dad-adjacent poems: "17 September 1966," "Matter Waves," and "Aim High."

Permalink: https://youtu.be/mKBKyZdnHgg 

October 26 on Zoom: Watching the Potomac Burn book launch

Next up - October 26th on Zoom - my friend Carolyn Srygley-Moore (a.k.a. C Leigh Srygley) is celebrating the launch of her new book, Watching the Potomac Burn, hosted by Dane Ince, and I'm happy to be one of the poets sharing work in support. We hope you'll join us!

Details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1527480008379180.

[27 October update: I ended up reading four poems at this event: “When the Bat Signal Goes Dark,” “With Breath and Without,” “A Kiss for David Johansen,” and “Add My Tears to the Bodies of Water.”]

2025 Anthology of the River Roots Poets Published

So many thanks to Ohio Poetry Association President, Holly Brians Ragusa, for her hard work on this excellent project in collaboration with the OPA and America's River Roots. I'm thrilled to have a poem ("After Kao Ch'an") included alongside the work of so many fantastic writers! View the whole digital flipbook anthology at https://midd.me/aspt.

My Updated DNA Results

AncestryDNA just updated my results with more specifics.

Interestingly, however, a different DNA company, 23andMe, gave me slightly different results in 2021:

November 5th at the Center for Inquiry Libraries in Amherst, New York

Buffalo friends, I look forward to returning to your area on 5 November 2025 to read with Susan Nusbaum for the Literary Café at CFI (Center for Inquiry) in Amherst, New York. My final in-person reading of 2025!

Many thanks to Ryki Zuckerman for the invitation!

Center for Inquiry Libraries
1310 Sweet Home Road
Amherst, New York 14228

September 25-27 in Frostburg: Western Maryland Independent Literature Festival

I'm thrilled to be taking part in the 19th annual Western Maryland Independent Literature Festival, presented by the Frostburg State University Center for Literary Arts this weekend in downtown Frostburg.

Thursday 9/25: Savage Mountain Punk Arts' Fall Poetry Slam featuring Lori Jakiela (7 p.m. at Clatter).

Friday 9/26: Indie Lit Kickoff Reading featuring Lee Horikoshi Roripaugh (7 p.m. at Main Street Books), followed by a punk show by the Downstrokes with Controlled Chaos (8 p.m. at The Deep End).

Saturday 9/27: Indie Lit Bookfair Panels and Workshops (11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at City Place, Mountain City Traditional Arts and the Frostburg Public Library). I'll be representing Crisis Chronicles Press in the bookfair all day as well as reading at 1 p.m. at City Place (more details below). And finally, there will be an Indie Lit Open Mic hosted by Chuck Joy (6 p.m. at Clatter).