We're in this week's Smoky Mountain News

Selfie 10/29/2019 outside
Tiny Cabin, Big Ideas in
Creston, North Carolina

“My early poetry began kind of as a form of therapy. I wasn’t really trained or anything, I just started writing from my heart,” said Burroughs. “Later on as I became an adult, my work was heavily influenced by music—hip hop, jazz and my love for the beat poets.” You can read the entire article here: https://www.smokymountainnews.com/aae/item/27906-the-poetry-of-freedom.

Thank you, Cory Vaillancourt, for the write up!

Heading to North Carolina for a Residency and Readings

Monday the 28th, I'll head down to the mountains of western North Carolina for a week-long writing residency. While there, I will be part of two events with award-winning poet Beth Copeland:

Friday November 1st - John Burroughs and Beth Copeland in Conversation w/ a reading at Foggy Pine Books in Boone, NC

Saturday November 2nd - John Burroughs & Beth Copeland Poetry Reading at City Lights (City Lights Bookstore) in Sylva, NC

My first ever readings in that state! All part of my ongoing Rattle and Numb Poetry Tour!

Three poems from Rattle & Numb nominated for the Pushcart Prize

self portrait b/w Rattle & Numb front cover (art by Emma Anderson)

Honored to learn that Venetian Spider Press has nominated THREE poems from my new book, Rattle and Numb, for The Pushcart Prize! They are "Hampuy ('Come')," "Rough Cure," and "Birther." I am most grateful for everyone who has picked up a copy so far! 

Also available from
Barnes & Noble / Amazon

CLE Photo Fest reading 10/25 at Mac's - and looking for more OH gigs

I am looking for more Ohio (and vicinity) gigs in support of my new book this fall/winter/spring, especially in cities where I've not read before (though I'm also happy to return to cool places I've already been). I only have 2 more out-of-state readings scheduled this year (Nov 1 & 2 in western North Carolina) and then I'm sticking close to home through March. All suggestions/offers welcome! Here's what I have scheduled so far:

10/25 in Cleveland Heights OH - Altered Landscapes: poets interpreting surrealist landscape photography (part of Cleveland Photo Fest) at Mac's Backs-Books On Coventry. (6 to 8 pm).

11/1 in Boone NC - John Burroughs and Beth Copeland in Conversation w/ a reading.

11/2 in Sylva NC - John Burroughs & Beth Copeland Poetry Reading at City Lights.

11/8 in Cleveland OH - Poetry Reading: Burroughs / Baldinger / Pavey at Visible Voice Books.

11/9 in Avon Lake OH - Read/Write/Local Authors Event at Avon Lake Public Library.

11/16 in Mansfield OH - Borderlands: Poetry on the Edge at Main Street Books.

11/21 in Elyria OH - Rattle & Numb with open mic at Roxy's Emporium. (6:30 pm).

11/25 in Cleveland Heights OH - Writer in the Window at Appletree Books. (10 am to 12 pm).

12/18 in Painesville OH - Words & Wine at the Steele Mansion Inn & Gathering Hub.

1/6/2020 in Lakewood OH - Monday at Mahall's Poetry and Prose Series.

1/8/2020 in Youngstown OH - At The Soap Gallery.

6/13/2020 in Amherst OH - Poetic Expressions from the Heart at Arabica Coffee Bistro.

9/4-6/2020 in New Hartford CT - National Beat Poetry Festival.

What's Up with Crisis Chronicles Press?

People keep asking me what's up with Crisis Chronicles Press. Here's the short answer:

Our 2019 titles so far

1) EVENTS: A) We'll be in Kansas City this weekend (October 11-13) for Fountainverse: KC Small Press Poetry Fest. B) On November 23rd, we will team up with NightBallet Press to present readings by our Class of 2019 authors during Streetlight Imaginations with Crisis Chronicles & NightBallet at the South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library. C) I am also hosting (at least through March 2020) the Poetry+ reading series on the 3rd Tuesday of each month at Art on Madison in Lakewood, Ohio.

2) BOOKS: It's hard to believe we published 5 wonderful books (by John Dorsey, Mindi Kirchner-Greenway, Elaine Schleiffer, Cat Russell and Nicole Hennessy) in the first four months of 2019 and we haven't published a new one since (I've been too busy with a million things). But over the summer several of our recent titles did go into second printings. We still have eight books in our committed-to-publishing queue. We intend to publish three of them (So Marvelously Far by Nick Gardner, Ode to Horatio and Other Saviors by Carolyn Srygley-Moore and Alex in Movieland by Alex Gildzen) by the end of 2019. We'll space the final five out over the course of 2020.

3) SUBMISSIONS: In the past week I've written to dozens of people declining their unsolicited submissions. Technically we haven't even been open for submissions in years, though I sometimes bent that policy for a project I just couldn't pass up. For a while (years?) I flirted with (and at times seriously considered) the idea of reopening submissions after I got caught up. But I never caught up. Now I'm becoming more and more inclined just to wrap up the press for good after I complete my current commitments.

It's been an incredible ride. I've had the honor and privilege of working with some fantastic writers and people. And it's not over yet. Eight phenomenal books are coming. I hope you love them as much as I do.

Meanwhile, there's still time to complete your collection at http://ccpress.blogspot.com/.

Gratefully yours,
John

Fountainverse: KC Small Press Poetry Fest - October 11th thru 13th

This month my Rattle and Numb book tour will take me to Kansas City, Missouri, to again participate in the annual FountainVerse small press poetry festival. For three days I will man a table for my new book from Venetian Spider Press as well as for a select assortment of recent Crisis Chronicles Press titles.

Also, on Saturday October 12th from 4 to 5 pm I will participate in a publishers panel sponsored by Spartan Press' Jason Ryberg. And then sometime between 7 and 8:30 pm I will be a featured reader alongside some of the Midwest's finest writers. Both of these events (as well as the book fair and much of the rest of the festival) will take place at Capsule, 1664 Broadway Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri 64108.


From the press release: "Fountainverse: KC Small Press Poetry Fest is a three-day poetry festival featuring poets representing independent poetry publishing houses from the KC metro area and across the country. The fest features scheduled readings, a pop-up book shop, publishing panel, workshop and open mic opportunities."

For more info including a full schedule of events, please visit www.fountainverse.com.
 

Western Maryland Independent Literature Festival, Oct. 4th & 5th in Frostburg

This weekend, I will represent Crisis Chronicles Press alongside several fine presses, journals and organizations at the Western Maryland Independent Literature Festival in downtown Frostburg. From the press release:

"The Frostburg State University Center for Literary Arts, in partnership with the Allegany County Library System, is excited to announce that the thirteenth annual Western Maryland Indie Lit Festival is scheduled for Oct. 4 & 5 on Main Street in Frostburg. The event brings together editors and publishers with writers and educators of the local community. Panel discussions and roundtable sessions include topics on various creative genres, revolutionary mothering, writing and the first amendment, writing about spirituality, telling the story through podcasting, and more!"

Friday, October 4th

5:30 pm - Kickoff  reception at the Frostburg State University Center for Literary Arts, 20 E. Main Street.

6:30 pm - Reading by four poets laureate at Main Street Books, 2 E. Main Street. (The poets are Michael Glaser, former poet laureate of Maryland; Nancy Mitchell, current poet laureate of Salisbury, MD; Chuck Joy, current poet laureate of Erie, PA; and Carly Volpe, current poet laureate of Bucks County, PA. Their panel discussion afterward will consider the role of a poet laureate in their community.)

Saturday, October 5th

11 am to 5 pm - Book Fair at the Hotel Gunter, 11 W. Main Street.

Assorted readings and panels nearby throughout the day.

Home again (briefly) then off to Massachusetts this weekend!

What a wonderful mini-tour with Jeanette Powers! I can't thank our friends in Toledo, Cleveland, Connecticut, Woodstock, New York City and Long Island enough. I dropped Jeanette off at the airport a little while ago and am now feverishly working on catching up on hundreds of things that need done between now and Friday, when I'll drive nine hours back to New England to launch the next leg of my tour.

Saturday (9/28) at 11:30 a.m. and Sunday (9/29) at 1:30 p.m. I will have the privilege of performing at the 2019 North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival in Orange, Massachusetts, hosted by U.S. National Beat Poet Laureate Paul Richmond and Human Error Publishing.

Then on Friday, October 4th, Crisis Chronicles Press and I will head to Frostburg, Maryland for the Western Maryland Independent Literature Festival....

If I owe you a message, I promise I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Any books I still owe folks will go into the mail by tomorrow. I am so grateful for your kind wishes and support.

https://www.facebook.com/events/699906550468769/.

Touring with Kansas City Poet Jeanette Powers This Month!

art/photo by Jeanette Powers

Finally home from the first of three trips to the east coast this month. I will spend today and tomorrow catching up on a million things, including hundreds of emails, a stack of bills, packaging and mailing books, running to Akron to pick up the 2nd printing of Nicole Hennessy's Gypsy Queen, mowing the lawn, getting a pdf proof for Nick Gardner's forthcoming Crisis Chronicles Press book (So Marvelously Far) to him and cleaning my house. Then Sunday, 9/8, in Toledo I will meet up with one of my favorite poets/artists/humans, Jeanette Powers of Kansas City, where we will have the privilege of reading with Barbara Sabol and Clarissa Jakobsons for Uncloistered Poetry at Calvino's Restaurant and Wine Bar.

After that, I will emcee two readings featuring Jeanette in the Cleveland area:

• Tues. 9/10 - Poetry+ featuring Jeanette Powers & Dianne Borsenik at Art on Madison in Lakewood, Ohio.
• Wed. 9/11 - Michelle R. Smith, Rikki Santer & Jeanette Powers at Mac's Backs in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

And then Jeanette's tour will continue as we head to the east coast for these events:

• Sun. 9/15 - Fall into Poetry at Sol’s Path (feat. Jake St. John, Meg Harris, Jeanette and me) in Northford, Connecticut.
• Tues. 9/17 (my birthday) - Woodstock Open Mic Poetry with John Burroughs & Jeanette Powers.
• Fri. 9/20 (her birthday) - Puma Perl's Birthday Bash Pandemonium (feat. Puma Perl and Friends, Annie Petrie, Jeanette, me and more) in New York City.
• Sat. 9/21 - Celebrate Poetry & Prose (feat. John Greiner, Jeanette and me) in Oceanside, New York.
• Sun. 9/22 - Poetry Street with John Burroughs and Jeanette Powers in Riverhead, New York.

Then we'll drive back to Cleveland, Jeanette will fly home, and at the end of the month I'll drive east again to read with U.S. Beat Poet Laureate Paul Richmond and others on 9/28 and 9/29 at the Word Stage at Garlic & Arts Festival in Orange, Massachusetts.

And if that wasn't enough, in October, I'll be heading to Maryland, Kansas City and North Carolina, among other places.

Rattle & Numb: Selected & New Poems, 1992-2019 (OUT NOW!)

Cover painting by Emma Anderson

I am beyond excited to see that my new book—Rattle & Numb: Selected and New Poems, 1992-2019—is now available. This is by far my biggest book yet, and my first hardcover. It features all my best poems from the past three decades, including a healthy helping of new, previously unpublished work. I absolutely love the cover art by Cleveland's own Emma Anderson. I am so grateful to her and to Venetian Spider Press editor William F. DeVault. I feel incredibly honored to join the VSP family.

Rattle & Numb: Selected and New Poems, 1992-2019 is now available from many of your favorite independent bookstores, as well as from Barnes and Noble and other online outlets.

You may also procure a signed copy of Rattle & Numb directly from me on my book tour, which so far features appearances in New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Michigan, Missouri, and a bunch of venues across Ohio.

I'm always interested in adding more events. So if you're interested in having me read/talk/hang out at your university, bookstore, library, festival or literary happening, please contact me at jc@crisischronicles.com.

Read a review by Pamela R. Anderson-Bartholet in Tinderbox Poetry Journal, by Heidi Blakeslee at GAS: Poetry, Art & Music, and by many others at Goodreads.

Artist Emma Anderson and me
[photo by Marty Snyder]

"In Rattle and Numb...John Burroughs has chosen some very strong pieces that propel the reader through a life-arc, while artfully revealing the person behind the poetry. His trademark wordplay is evident throughout, as in Ataraxis be bloom/be lilt/be boom/be wilt and Out (Not Fade Away) But in spite of it I wrote on/rode on/right on/wry dawn/rite yawn. Classic Burroughs poems—John Cage Uncaged and Engaged, Low Kay Shun, Lens—anchor the narrative, while new and newer poems create fresh mythologies, tackle the facelessness of Facebook, brood over the flow of rivers into Lake Erie, promise flaming postcards/from the conflagration. Rattle and Numb is both, and neither; it is a confessional collection that promises and delivers to whomever it may concern."

—Dianne Borsenik, author of Raga for What Comes Next, publisher at NightBallet Press