Poems, Reviews, and Upcoming Fiction

It's been a busy winter so far, and it's only getting busier. Here's a rundown of what's out now and what's coming soon!

• My review of Nice Feelings by Iris Appelquist now appears at Up The Staircase Quarterly, which is a stellar publication you should be reading.
• My poem "Going Ghost" now appears at Boned, a journal of skeletal writings. I omitted this poem from my collection Berlin (Maverick Duck Press) so I'm happy it finally found a home.
• My poem "Nights Don't Die" should appear in the upcoming issue of Five:2:One this month.
• I have two flash fiction stories coming up in late winter: "Desperate Ain't Lonely" will appear in Full Of Crow, and "Thompson Hill" will appear in Ink In Thirds. I'll post links when they both hit!
• And finally, for now, I recently had a poem called "The Carson Effect" in Winedrunk Sidewalk: Shipwrecked in Trumpland, and I'll soon have another titled "The Young May Love Without Fear". They publish a new poem every day of Trump's presidency, and if you're not the biggest fan of the current admin, you'll want to take a look.

Thanks for reading and all of your support!

"The Old Note Book" Now Appears at Picaroon Poetry

Picaroon Poetry has a new issue sailing the high seas of the internet and its crew is a fine one, full of poets and scribes with words galore. In their new issue, which they unofficially dub the "sex and death issue", you'll find my poem "The Old Note Book". I take notes when I travel and after finding an old clothbound note book I opened it to find so many memories I'd nearly forgotten, and some I most certainly don't recall. I hope you enjoy the poem, and please take a look at the rest of the issue! 

New Review of Dead City Jazz at Albany Poets

A new review of my chapbook Dead City Jazz now appears at Albany Poets. In the reviewer's own words, the collection "explores the geography of human emotion, love, loneliness, desperation, fear and indifference using robust imagery while simultaneously intertwining narratives." All of the poems take place on or are inspired by alcohol-infused and neon-lit evenings in San Antonio, Texas, and while some are certainly bar poems, others hover in more remote corners of the night, on back streets and in quiet rooms in a suffocating silence. The review does a good job of getting to the heart of the poetry, especially the part where the reviewer recognized "how we improvise through our experiences like jazz music," through every conversation and relationship, every night and day. I'm proud to have my hometown poetry organization host this review on their site. Take a look, and thanks for all of the support! Single copies are still available through me, but the whole Punk Chapbook Series from Epic Rites Press is just that, epic, and is worth your time and money.   

Dead City Jazz & the Punk Chapbook Series

Dead City Jazz, my chapbook about the neon and nightlife of San Antonio, TX is now available as part of the Epic Rites Press Punk Chapbook Series, in which you receive 12 books for $40 (plus shipping) all at once. I should have VERY limited signed copies available by early October, but there are so many talented writers in this series that your best best to to get them all before they're sold out. Below is a sample poem from Dead City Jazz called "Death of the Cool". 

Death of the Cool

sewing through Alamo Heights
after midnight, headlights and red lights
and Chet Baker, Miles, news of
your suicide in that cracked little
bungalow further downtown, soft
highway sounds like the ocean
we loved so well

your records and books were gone
by the time we got there to pay respects
but that’s alright, we’ll always
have the night, and all the
pain in the world

New Poetry in Bare Hands Issue 23

My poem "The Ruby Hope of You" now appears in the gorgeous Bare Hands, Issue 23. Included in the issue are Eithne Lannon, Roisin Kelly, Trevaskis Hoskin, Tia Paul-Louis, Brian Kirk, Eoghan O'Sullivan, and Seth Jani, with some beautiful photography throughout. My poem is an older one, reshaped and reconstructed through the years but holding dear to a stoic moment in the southern grass at dusk, staring up through the trees with the last of the red wine and a fresh batch of wonderful, awful pain. I hope you enjoy.  

Dead City Jazz Gets a Cover and Release Date!

Epic Rites Press will release my poetry chapbook Dead City Jazz as part of their Punk Chapbook Series 2, coming this October. Last night I added one more poem to the chap, "Death of the Cool," and and now the chap has a cover too, with artwork provided by Janne Karlsson. The book is available in bulk with all the others, 12 books in total that ship in one package. For details, check out Epic Rites Press, and I'm going to try to get my hands on a couple individual copies for future readings and such. Stay tuned for all that.  

Dead City Jazz coming soon to Epic Rites Press

Epic Rites Press has selected my poetry collection Dead City Jazz for inclusion in their Punk Chapbook Series. This is the second season of their series, which includes 12 chapbooks released over the course of a year to subscribers for just $40, a little over $3 per book. This is an exceptional deal considering the subscription includes work from Ally Malinenko, William F. Taylor, Karina Bush, and many other talented writers, with more to be announced.

Dead City Jazz is a collection of San Antonio poems, of late night breakdowns and smoky bar crawls, of darkened streets and glowing cantina lights, of fading love and frightening lust, of death wishes and jukebox laughter. I'll see about getting my hands on signed copies, but I don't have full details yet on how the series works as far as that goes. But at the price listed for all of the chaps in the series, it really is a good deal to go all in. Many thanks to Wolfgang Carstens for accepting my work! More details coming soon.    

Interviewed by The Blue Mountain Review

Southern poet, rogue, and Pulitzer nominee Charles Clifford Brooks III interviewed me for the third issue of The Blue Mountain Review, and we discuss my thoughts on the literary community, where quality writing comes from, and of course, fight clubs...which don't exist, I promise, so please stop asking...ahem, anyway. The issue also includes three of my poems, "dawn and the empty bottle of wine," "Having Come Down the Mountain," and "How to Read the Braille of Your Heartstrings." You can read the entire issue online (I'm on page 89), and it includes a ton of other spectacular writers and poets, including Dr. John Ratledge, Regina Walker, Rowan Johnson, and others. Thank you for taking a look!  

New Poetry in February - Pine Hills Review & San Pedro River Review

Two new poems of mine are now walking around out in the world for all to see. My poem "East Cevallos Street" now appears in the San Pedro River Review, a massive edition focusing on the American Southwest. My poem takes place in San Antonio, TX, and brings a glimmering colorful nighttime cantina into view, where drinks are cheap and so are the prayers to a saintly boxcar train rumbling through the downtown streets heading into the night, into the west. Copies are available for purchase online.

My poem "How to Watch John Ashbery Read Poetry" now appears at Pine Hills Review, the online literary journal for St. Rose, a college in my hoemtown of Albany, NY. This one is about going to see John Ashbery read poetry in NYC, and how these little gatherings are always more uncomfortable than you'd think. 

There are a lot of other poems and stories set for release this year, a few appearing in large anthologies, a story set for release over at Drunk Monkeys, and a new poetry collection due later this year from Dark Heart Press. There's a lot going on, and I'll keep you posted as we get further down the road. Thanks for reading!

Yellow Chair Review 2015 Anthology Now Available!

My poem "Slaves of Some Strange God" now appears in Yellow Chair Review's Anthology, a print edition that looks back on some of their favorite pieces they published in digital editions in 2015. My poem previously appeared in their September 2015 issue. The print edition also contains notable work from the likes of Rachel Nix, Kevin Ridgeway, Thomas R. Thomas, Allie Marini, Alison Ross, Scott Thomas Outlar, and many others. My thanks goes to Yellow Chair Review Editor-in-Chief Sarah Frances Moran and the rest of the YCR staff for including my work. "I never would have thought we’d be putting together an anthology when we started back in May," Sarah says. "I’m so very proud of what we’ve accomplished and I’m honored to showcase the work included here." The anthology is available for $15. Thanks for reading! 

"No Harvest" Appears in Red Fez #84

My poem "No Harvest" now appears in Issue 84 of Red Fez, a madhouse of a publication that has accepted a great deal of my work over the years and I am always grateful to have another piece in the fold. More of my older poems accepted by Red Fez can be read HERE. In other writing news, I have taken a step away from a lot of social media outlets to focus on the latest mystery novel (as I said in a previous post) and it's going a little slower than I hoped, but I'm getting closer to the end. Details on that will follow, as well as on a few other poetry and fiction publications I have in the works with presses and magazines in 2016. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading!

Three New Poems in Change Seven Magazine

The new issue of Change Seven Magazine is now out, and it includes three of my poems. "The Good Fresh Kind" is a look back at a lazy day on the job as a lawn-care laborer back in college before the full hammer of adulthood struck. "Death Row Escape" is a poem about how obsession and lust is a prison, and is a poem I held out of my collection Berlin to work on it some more, and I really like this final version. "It's Only Temporary" is a New York City poem, a love poem, a lonely poem, and still takes me back to that strange feeling you get in NYC of being so constantly surrounded by people yet feeling a million miles away from everyone. A deep thank you to the editors at Change Seven for including my work with so many other fine writers, including  Emily Strauss, William Doreski, Seth Jani, Ilana Masad, and many others.  

New Poetry in Yellow Chair Review #4

My poem "Slaves of Some Strange God" now appears in Yellow Chair Review #4 alongside some excellent work by the likes of Alan Britt, Lisa M. Cole, Howie Good, Cathy Porter, Randi Ward, and many others. My thanks goes to Sarah Frances Moran and the staff over at Yellow Chair Review for accepting this poem, and I hope you enjoy it as well. Thanks for reading! 

New Poem in Up The Staircase Quarterly

"Berlin Night" by Mia Avramut

My poem "Exposed Brick in Candlelight" now appears in the new issue of Up The Staircase Quarterly, an excellent collection of poetry, art, and book reviews. Editor April Michelle Bratten always puts together a beautiful menagerie of artists and writers, and I feel very lucky to be included in yet another issue. I'm especially lucky to have my poetry paired with the wonderful artistry of Mia Avramut, who created a piece titled  "Berlin Night" -- a beautiful pairing, as I wrote the poem in Berlin! Thanks for taking a look at my poem, and consider submitting your own work! 

"Poetry Boneyard" Now Appears at Revolution John

My poem "Poetry Boneyard" now appears in Revolution John as part of an end-of-month feature from guest editor Savannah Sipple. I'm really excited to be part of a feature that contains work from some fantastic writers, including Ally Malinenko, John Swain, Howie Good, and more. Take a look, and consider sending Revolution John some of your own work!  

Six to the End (from the pages of Berlin)

My new poetry chapbook Berlin (from Maverick Duck Press) is flying out the door, and I thought I'd throw up a sample poem for anyone who would like to see what the chap is all about. The poems were all written during a week in Berlin, Germany in 2010 and contain plenty of noir sentiments: streelamps, trains, sidewalks, corner cafes, nighttime skylines, hotel ghosts, and more. You can order copies for $6 via the publisher or by emailing me at jhdwriting@hotmail.com. If you already own a copy, you can leave a review and rating at Goodreads.com. Thanks!

Six to the End

out go the lights

six to the end like empty chambers

of a smoking gun dead

broken heels running in the night

up the wet street, up the wet sky

blonde hair gracing the face of the moon

every dream has a hole

and every hole pours red hope

into pools of abrupt sermon songs

there isn’t a street without a crack

and there isn’t woman without a spine

to hold up her coat, or feathered summation

the women, they reload quick

and then men, they hurry for knives

every villain eager for a hero

every heart beaten to a pulp

and the empty shells slip from the gun

clatter onto the glass table

roll across Venetian blinds like mice

in the alleys there are tigers

in Macau there are fires

in morgues there are long dreams of masculine fear

all down the potter’s lane, cemeteries in a row

six to the end like waiting chambers

six to the end like autumn lovers gone

'Men of Karma' now at Carcinogenic Poetry

My new road poem "Men of Karma" now appears at Carcinogenic Poetry, an online literary journal that has published some of my favorite poems over the years. A big thank you goes to editor Michael Aaron Casares for accepting the piece!    

Berlin: Coming Soon!

My new poetry chapbook Berlin is inching closer to its release in early December, and Kendall A. Bell, the editor over at Maverick Duck Press, sent me the cover image last night, and here it is (both front and back are seen here):

I'm really impressed, and a major thank you goes to artist Ryan W. Bradley for putting it together, as well as to the entire staff at MDP for all their work. I can't wait for the book release reading on Dec. 5th at the Daily Grind Coffee Shop in Mount Holly, NJ. All are welcome to come along and join the open mic portion, or just hang out and listen, and I'll be reading from Berlin and some other books as well. I'll post details on where you can purchase a copy of Berlin as soon as I can. Until then, thanks for the support!

New Poetry in the Fall/Winter Issue of The Aurorean

My poem “Ties” is slated to appear in the Fall/Winter issue of The Aurorean, due out in just a couple of weeks, but you can pre-order a copy for just $11 at their website right now. The Aurorean is an excellent literary journal out of New England and I’ve had the pleasure of appearing in a few of their other issues, as well as in their Favorites from the First Fifteen Years anthology, which was a finalist in the 2013 Maine Literary Awards. Pick up a copy of the upcoming issue if you have the chance and be sure to look for my poem "Ties." Many thanks to editors Cynthia Brackett-Vincent and Devin McGuire for including my work!