My poem, “Awake, I Listen to My Bones Argue” is live at the Amsterdam Review. Many thanks to editors Daniel and Priscilla for taking this sonnet, which was written before my cancer diagnosis.
Poem Up at Amsterdam Review
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Tag Archives: illness
Poem Up at Spare Parts Literary Magazine
My poem “Moonlight at Noon (Afterlife)” is live at Spare Parts Literary Magazine. Many thanks to poetry editor Oladejo Abdullah Feranmi and the Spare Parts team for taking this piece.
Four Poems Live at Vox Populi
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.
Poem Up at Broadkill Review
Somehow, I missed this, but in late April my poem “These Upright Nights” was published by Broadkill Review. Thank you, Jamie Brown, for accepting this poem, which is another of my hendecasyllabic series.
Poems Published in Shō Poetry Journal
I’m delighted to announce that my poems “Moon Cows” and “In the Batter’s Box” have been published in the print journal Shō Poetry Journal. A photo of “In the Batter’s Box” appears below. Thank you editors Johnny Cordona and Dominique Ahkong for taking these pieces. The journal features work by such luminaries as Jack Bedell, Ariel Francisco, Arah Ko, Robert L. Penick, Sage Ravenwood and Jane Zwart, among others.
Note: My two poems are part of a series of hendecasyllabic poems (eleven-line poems, each line of which consists of eleven syllables) written since early September. Another in the series, “Trigger Alert,” was published by Stone Circle Review this past fall.
Runaway Bus (with recording)
Here’s a recording of my poem “Runaway Bus,” which was featured on Postcard Poems and Prose Magazine in January 2017 and is included in my chapbook, From Every Moment a Second, available for order via Amazon.com and Finishing Line Press.
Runaway Bus
Wishing for pristine airways
and unfeathered dreams, I lie
on my right side, and wait.
Again, the bellows flex and pump.
The relentless tickle, exploding,
another round of gasps and mucus retained,
one droplet among others,
spread across the night.
Comfort’s runaway bus never slows,
and I watch it pull away, shrinking in time.
Wait, wait, I say. I bought a ticket.
In the Place of Cold Doors
In the Place of Cold Doors
We have a word for everything,
or seven for nothing. Soon
you’ll enter and I’ll talk
on the other side,
watch for signs in every
dropped crumb,
every nailhead and
embedded phrase remembered
in another’s voice. The light
will dim and I’ll look for rain and
go on speaking. My words will wander
unnoticed. You hear only yesterday.
“In the Place of Cold Doors” first appeared in Gossamer: An Anthology of Contemporary World Poetry, published by Kindle Magazine in Kolkata, India. I was thrilled to have several poems included in the anthology.
Runaway Bus (with recording)
Here’s a recording of my poem “Runaway Bus,” which was featured on Postcard Poems and Prose Magazine in January 2017 and is included in my chapbook, From Every Moment a Second, available for order via Amazon.com and Finishing Line Press.
Runaway Bus
Wishing for pristine airways
and unfeathered dreams, I lie
on my right side, and wait.
Again, the bellows flex and pump.
The relentless tickle, exploding,
another round of gasps and mucus retained,
one droplet among others,
spread across the night.
Comfort’s runaway bus never slows,
and I watch it pull away, shrinking in time.
Wait, wait, I say. I bought a ticket.
In the Place of Cold Doors
In the Place of Cold Doors
We have a word for everything,
or seven for nothing. Soon
you’ll enter and I’ll talk
on the other side,
watch for signs in every
dropped crumb,
every nailhead and
embedded phrase remembered
in another’s voice. The light
will dim and I’ll look for rain and
go on speaking. My words will wander
unnoticed. You hear only yesterday.
“In the Place of Cold Doors” first appeared in Gossamer: An Anthology of Contemporary World Poetry, published by Kindle Magazine in Kolkata, India. I was thrilled to have several poems included in the anthology.
Countdown: #5, In the Place of Cold Doors
My last five posts of 2016 are reruns of the five most viewed poems on this site during the year. Number five made its appearance here in June.
In the Place of Cold Doors
We have a word for everything,
or seven for nothing. Soon
you’ll enter and I’ll talk
on the other side,
watch for signs in every
dropped crumb,
every nailhead and
embedded phrase remembered
in another’s voice. The light
will dim and I’ll look for rain and
go on speaking. My words will wander
unnoticed. You hear only yesterday.
“In the Place of Cold Doors” first appeared in Gossamer: An Anthology of Contemporary World Poetry, published by Kindle Magazine in Kolkata, India. I was thrilled to have several poems included in the anthology.
O at the Edges 