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.

"Surf Smart" in Ohio Bards 2026

Local Gems Press is launching their new Ohio Bards Poetry Anthology 2026 this Sunday, May 3rd, at 6:30 p.m. and I am pleased that my poem "Surf Smart" appears in it. This event will take place at the Hilton Garden Inn Columbus-University Area, 3232 Olentangy River Road, in Columbus, Ohio 43202.

You may pre-order the book for pickup or mailing at https://www.localgemspoetrypress.com/ohio-bards-preorders.html.

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.

Appearing in DEPOSE: An Anthology of Working Class Solidarity

One of my photographs and two written pieces, "Home of the Enslaved" and "Don't Freeze," appear in this new anthology published by Mark Lipman's Vagabond Press. 

254 pages, paperback. 

Buy DEPOSE for $25 here.

I finished reading 122 books in 2025

Many of them short. Many more yet in progress.

View the whole list at https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2025/7975528.

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.

Crisis Chronicles Press This Fall

We may not have published a new title in two years, but we've remained busy behind the scenes with a couple of highly anticipated and long-awaited projects still in the works (more on those later). But Crisis Chronicles Press is delighted to be coming out of the closet, literally, to take part in three wonderful book fairs this fall and we'd love to see you at all of them.

September 19-20: The Writers Association of Northern Appalachia (WANA) Annual Conference at the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Wheeling, West Virginia.

September 27: The annual Western Maryland Independent Literature Festival, hosted by the Frostburg State University Center for Literary Arts at City Place and other venues in Frostburg, Maryland. (I'll be reading there at 1 p.m. as well.)

October 17-19: The annual Fall Literary Festival hosted by Lit Youngstown in Youngstown, Ohio.

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.

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."

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

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.

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.

10/31: What Is in John's Basement? - Book and Online Halloween Event

Tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, on Halloween, I'll have the privilege of reading with a bunch of fine writers during the online book launch for What Is in John's Basement? (published by Eyepublishewe) So much gratitude to Dane Ince for spearheading this project and for including my poem, "Answered by What It Is."

 

Other contributors include Ron Whitehead, Frogg Corpse, John Angell Grant, K.R. Morrison, Dane Ince, Bryan Franco, Deborah C. Segal, Mbonisi Zikhali Zomkhonto, Mark States, Sophia Falco, Jeff Cottrill, Michael Sindler, Antoinette Vella Payne, Jonathan S. Baker, Merilee Johnson, Tyler Frederick, Gary Huskisson, Eddy Foreman, Darrell Parry, Clive Oseman, Fin Hall, Jon Wesick, Phynne~Belle,and hil hoover.

 

For more info on this event, click here.

Watch this event on Zoom.

To purchase a copy of the book, click here.

 

Meet the authors of the Poem for Cleveland Anthology, 10/28 in South Euclid

I'm thrilled to be part of this on Saturday. From our friends at the CCPL:

Meet the authors of the Poem for Cleveland Anthology

Saturday, October 28

2:00pm - 4:00pm
South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch
Cuyahoga County Public Library
1876 South Green Road, South Euclid, Ohio 44121

Meeting Room A+B+C (120)

Join us to celebrate the publication of Poem for Cleveland, a new anthology written by over 100 youth and elder poets. Poets will be reading their poems from this second edition of the book.

The Poem for Cleveland project was a year-long series of workshops led by Ray McNiece, former Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate and Cleveland Arts Prize Lifetime Achievement Award winner. The project culminated in the publication of the anthology by local publisher, Red Giant Press. Poem for Cleveland was made possible by the Academy of American Poets with funds from the Mellon Foundation.

McNiece worked with youth poets to present writing workshops for elder poets at various community venues, including the William N. Skirball Writers’ Center at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst Branch. Each workshop included poetry prompts about Cleveland, including favorite places, people, family memories, and growing up a Clevelander.

Poets reading include John Burroughs, Mary Weems, Bonnie Jacobson, Adrian Schnall, Doc Janning, Barbara Hill-Newby, Bill Newby, Bob Coughlin, Charlene Fix, David Adams, Diane Vogel Ferri, Dianne Borsenik, Jennifer Browne, John Burroughs, Sandra Johnson, Shelley Chernin, Timothy Richards, and Phil Metres.

Books will be available for purchase and signing.

At the Lit Youngstown Fall Literary Festival This Week!

The annual Lit Youngstown Fall Literary Festival happens this week, October 19th through 21st. I will attend the kickoff event on Thursday evening. Then on Friday I will man the Crisis Chronicles Press table all day at their book fair in addition to being part of a 2:30 p.m. reading by contributors to the anthology I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing (edited by Kari Gunter-Seymour) in the Ford Theater at Bliss Hall. Unfortunately, I will have to miss Saturday's events.

From our friends at Lit Youngstown:

The 7th annual Fall Literary Festival will feature Ross Gay, Jill Christman, Alison Stine, and the Craig Paulenich Endowed Lecture on Literary Community by Lit Cleveland Executive Director Matt Weinkam. This will be an incredible conference, with thanks to our sponsors the Centofanti Foundation, the Youngstown State University Center for Working-Class Studies, WYSU-FM, the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, Lake Erie Golf Cars, the Thomases Family Foundation, KO Consulting, the Grace Ruth Memorial Endowment, Ohio Humanities, the Wilkes University Master of Fine Arts, the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts, Eastern Gateway Community College, the Ohio Arts Council and the Youngstown Foundation.

Registration for daytime events is now closed. Please join us for the free evening readings! For more information including a full schedule of events, please visit https://www.lityoungstown.org/fall-literary-festival-2023.

 

Crisis Chronicles Press publishes Fragile by Brandon Johnson

Crisis Chronicles Press is happy to announce the publication of Fragile, the debut collection of poetry by Ohio's own Brandon Johnson.

 

"Brandon Johnson’s poems explore emotional and physical pain—and the beauty that can be found in the midst of such pain. From bone fractures to dura mater, from grief and loneliness to love and dreams, Johnson reminds readers that hope is always within reach. Held together through clips of time, these poems move us forward and backward and forward again toward healing, toward light."
—Nicole Robinson, author of Without a Field Guide

 

Fragile is a 74-page, 5.5" x 8.5", perfect bound paperback with cover art by the author.  Shipping on 25 September 2023. ISBN 979-8-88596-997-0. Available for $10 from Crisis Chronicles Press, 535 Parkside Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44143 USA. 

 

You may also order via Venmo (@jesuscrisis) or CashApp ($crisischronicles). Please add three dollars for shipping.

Brandon was born in 1995 in Cleveland, Ohio. At the age of two, he was adopted by the amazing Johnson family. He has always been fascinated by the fantastical world of comic books and mythology. Growing up, he often felt alone even though he was always around a caregiver or an adult. Through reading comics and other works of fiction, he was able to escape the confines of his physical body and let his imagination liberate his soul. He had a hard time accepting his disability and his physical appearance, leading to depression and self-isolation. Over the years, through writing and the creative arts, Brandon has learned to embrace his oddities. His poem "My Soul" has been featured in the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University's Traveling Stanzas.

Work in Four New Anthologies

Voices: Dahlias, Gods & Mermaids, edited by Dave Boles [2023, Cold River Press].

Eleven of my poems—"Bearing Her," "Darshan," "Selkie," "Shaktipat," "Beat," "Beacon," "Deluge," "Crossover," "Killer," "A Wait, A Final Fall," and "Yearning to Combine"— appear in this volume, alongside work by Dave Boles, D.R. Wagner, S.A. Griffin, Charles Plymell, Karl Kempton, A.D. Winans, Belinda Subraman, Sharon Gariepy Frye, Joe Kidd, Sheila Burke, Deborah C. Segal, and many more.

Available from https://www.coldriverpress.com/HTML/VOICES/voices.htm.

 

Spoken Word in the Woods: an anthology celebrating the Word Stage at the North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival, edited by Paul Richmond [2023, Human Error Publishing].

Four of my poems—"Sprouting Onion," "Pedigree," "Dog Day," and "Dog Day Too"— appear in this volume, alongside work by Paul Richmond, Abiodun Oyewole, Doug Anderson, Deborah Tosun Kilday, Amy Laprade, Angel Martinez, Carlos Raul Dufflar, Lee Desrosiers, Karen Warinsky, Richard Wayne Horton, Robert Eugene Perry, Sharon Harmon, Tommy Twilite, Tony Vacca, Ernest Brute + Object Echo, and many more.

Available from https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1143996106.

 

Hope Springs Eternal: An Anthology of Hopeful Poetry, edited by JR Simons [2023, Simple Simons Press].

Three of my poems—"Snoetry Invocation," "Gatha," and "In the Wake"— appear in this volume, alongside work by J.R. Simons, Amanda Hayden, Joseph Balaz, Jessica Weyer-Bentley, Christen Lee, Ashley Pacholewski, Barbara Sabol, A. Garnet Weiss, Sandra Gill, Joel Lipman, Tom Barden, LaVern Spencer McCarthy, Emily Jane Vandenbos Style, J.V. Sadler, and Julie Marie Hoey.

Available from https://www.simple-simons-press.com/simple-simons-press-poetry.

 

Poem for Cleveland anthology, edited by Ray McNiece, design by Tim Lachina [2023, Red Giant Books]

My poem "Divided We Fall Together" appears in this volume, alongside work by Ray McNiece, Terry Provost, Maj Ragain, Daniel Thompson, Dianne Borsenik, Siaara Freeman, Shelley Chernin, Kisha Nicole Foster, Michael Salinger, Phil Terman, Larry Smith, Christine Howey, Michael Gill, Diane Vogel Ferri, Diana Lueptow, Toni Thayer, Byron Hoot, Jennifer Browne, Miles Budimir, Geoffrey Landis, Gillian Johns, Steven B. Smith, Lee Chilcote, Elana Pitts, Mary Weems, Russ Vidrick, Mimi Plevin-Foust, Geoff Polk, Michael Loderstadt, Jill Lange, Conor Bracken, Raja Belle Freeman, Bob Coughlin, Tim Richards, Doc Janning, Cora McCann Liderbach, Bonnie Jacobson, Charlene Fix, Alex Gildzen, Gail Bellamy, Stephen Bellamy, Nicole Hennessy, Tim Joyce, Linda Goodman Robiner, Leonard Trawick, Vladimir Swirynsky, Adrian Schnall, Nina Freedlander Gibans, Haley Schwenk, Cathy Barber, Robert Miltner, Amy Sparks, Laurie Kincer, Mary A. Turzillo, Elijah Perseus Blumov, Diane Kendig, John Donoghue, Steve Thomas, Mark Kuhar, Karen Schubert, Sara Holbrook, Philip Metres, Vince Robinson, Katie Daley, John Stickney, Joe Gizmo, Jim Szudy, Russell Atkins, Michelle R. Smith, RC Wilson, Darlene Montonaro, Steve Goldberg, Claire McMahon, Kathy Smith, Ben Gulyas, S. Renay Sanders, Bill Newby, Marilyn Oliveras de Ortiz, Laura Grace Weldon, George Bilgere, and many more.