One of my favorite publications, Vox Populi, is featuring four of my poems. These hendecasyllabic pieces (consisting of eleven lines, each containing eleven syllables) reflect back on the early days of my illness, when pain and difficulties breathing prevented me from lying down. I spent six months attempting to sleep on a recliner before treatment allowed me back in bed.
My poems “When to Say Goodbye” and “I Praise the Moon, Even When She Laughs” are live at Does It Have Pockets. Many thanks to Camille Griep and the Does It Have Pockets team for taking these previously published pieces and offering them new life.
I’m delighted to announce that my poem “Love Poem with Eight Questions” is live at Spirit Lake Review. Many thanks to the Spirit Lake Review editorial team for taking this piece!
I am thrilled to announce that my second full-length book is now available directly from Broadstone Books at a 20% discount. Just use the code POETS24 when you check out.
https://www.broadstonebooks.com/shop/p/his-windblown-self-poetry-by-robert-okaji
After I expressed concern that I might not live long enough to see or experience the book’s publication, publisher Larry W. Moore prioritized its production, and here it is! Thank you, Larry! Lest you worry, I am feeling pretty good, and have no plans to give up the ghost anytime soon.
The cover art is a painting by my favorite artist, Ron Throop, titled “Sentiment for Bob While Listening to ‘Common One, Bonus Track Addition’ by Van Morrison, Over and Over Again” 2024 Oil on canvas, 20″ x 24″. Ron actually drove some 1,300 miles round-trip to deliver the framed painting and break bread with us, a memorable evening that I’ll cherish forever.
I am honored that my poem “From Left to Right I Consider Purpose and Kanji” is live at Formidable Woman Sanctuary as a contribution to editor and founder d ellis phelps’s Solace Project. The poem also resides in my new full-length book, Our Loveliest Bruises, from 3: A Taos Press. I am grateful to d for this publication and many other kindnesses over the years.
To view the poem, scroll down to the end.
My poem “Letter to Moorman from Advancement” is live at The Glass Post. I am grateful to editor and founder Kay for taking this piece.
My poem “The Starlings Were You,” which won the Shō Poetry Prize earlier this year, is live at Verse Daily. Many thanks to editor J.P. Dancing Bear for featuring this piece, and to Shō Poetry editors Dominique Ahkong and Johnny Cordova for their kindness and support.
My poem “In Another Life” is live at The Imagist. Many thanks to editor Holly Ponce and The Imagist team for taking this piece.
Today is the official launch day for Texas Flood, my micro-chapbook from Porkbelly Press, out of CIncinnati, Ohio. This ten poem collection was written in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, in August 2017. Regarding the press, founder and editor Nicci Melcher is a dream to work with, and I feel fortunate indeed to have crossed paths. Please check out Porkbelly’s extensive offerings at https://porkbellypress.com/poetry/flood
Thoughtful, proposing not end, but process.
In this noon’s grayness I disclose my need.
Which is a lotus floating in your pond, a clutch of zeros
blooming in moonlight. Last night’s missing sleep.
An ending, by definition, concludes.
But what occurs in a circle’s body, or infinity’s border?
Imprecision acknowledged, I sip wine and gauge distance.
Take comfort in the disorderly.
Starting at the top, the brush moves down and right,
clockwise, then rising in opposition, halts.
Drifting, incomplete, I step back.
Some leave a gap; others do not.
* * *
This first appeared in Posit: A Journal of Literature and Art in September 2017, and may be found in my full-length collection Our Loveliest Bruises, recently published by 3: A Taos Press.
O at the Edges 