Field Recordings

My weird book is in presales, a twisted ride for sure. The audiobook is by the one and only Nate McFadden , who is a brilliant performer, and writer in his own right, and who was amazing to work with. It's a transgressive fish tale, among many things, full of vice, murder, magic, and secrets. Read the sample chapter "Ostrich Derby". Presales for Mulch are live.    https://mulchverse.blog/   "Ostrich Derby took place every year on the same day as the Kentucky Derby, starting approximately an hour after the winning horse made his/her triumphant cross over the finish line. Ostrich Derby took place on Mung's Farm, about four and a half hours north of the Hayes farm and environs. Jeffery Mung and his wife Fay raised ostriches, two and a half dozen of them usually, sometimes as many as three dozen on a sizable chunk of land on Maryland's Eastern Shore."

A new poem in the symbiosis-themed issue of River Mouth Review. Many thanks to Sarah Stockton and staff. My review of Michael Chang's Boyfriend Perspective in Heavy Feather Review . Many thanks to Jeff Chon.  My review of Ian Dreiblatt's forget thee is up at Rain Taxi.

Many gracious thanks to  Rosanna Gargiulo and the folks over at  The Maine Review , for including me in their May issue. Many thanks to Richard Peabody for including "Dinner Tonight at Henri's" on the audio/cd issue of Gargoyle. You can purchase it here. Many thanks to James Diaz and Jenny Robbins for including "Bird/Brain" in the newest Anti-Heroin Chic. Many thanks to Jill Ireland for including me in South Florida Poetry Journals Summer Issue. I'm on page two, down towards the bottom. You can hear me read "What it's like to get up and go to work when the black cowl of depression covers your face."

I have a new review of Michael Chang's chapbook, Drakkar Noir, up at the Rumpus.  

Hey folks, the workshop at the Eastern Shore Community College will be returning! I did not do a virtual workshop last fall because I was immersed in hybrid learning at Pocomoke High School.  My multi-genre workshop will return, beginning in late August. The folks over at the Academy for Lifetime Learning will be posting the fall schedule toot sweet. Visit them here . In the past, I have done variations of Beating Hell to Hell, which I recently taught over at the Eastern Shore Writers Association.  This fall is likely to involve some prompts, probably not generated via Dante, however.  From the catalog Students will read poems and short plays, analyzing for content and technique. Students will compose original works. Students will critique each other’s works for content and technique. Prompts will be provided but will not be required. Students are encouraged to go on their nerve with regard to the work they will compose. Six sessions:  Thursdays,  8/26, 9/2, 9/...

Grateful to the folks at River Heron Review, The American Journal of Poetry , and Gargoyle for including me in their newest collections. "Zoo Animals Disappeared" "Lawnmower" and "Lark Sparrows in a Pasture Outside of Town"   I'll be reading with River Heron Review next week. You can find the information here . The zoom link registration for the reading is here. "Tiresias Comes Over For Tea" Gargoyle Mulch a sprawling American magical realism/speculative fiction mash-up of horror, small-town crime, historical and adventure fiction will be released in 2021, from Montag Press.  Another flooded Boston dystopian eco-adventure will be out late, late 2021, in Helios Quarterly's new magazine venture.

New work in these fine literary journals. Grateful to Mary Carroll-Hackett, Semein Washington, Brigid Hokana for publishing my prose poem   "What the Fire Said to the Arsonist"   in the newest edition of K'in. Shout out to Ghost City Review's Justin Karcher, Jack Bachman, & Kevin Bertolero for publishing   "Flagpoor". Thanks to Andrea, Jeff, and Ryn, over at Panoply for publishing "Old Man Winter on the Marsh." Big shout out to Betsey Boyd, Emely Rodriguez, Adrearna Fleet, Chris Hart, Tim Huber, and Stevie Sanchez over at Welter, for publishing my prose poem "The Butcher & the Wild Child".

Pre-order the action thriller anthology Lethal Impact from Dragon Soul Press. Featuring one of my dystopian stories, "Don't cough in Marshpunk Territory". Set in flooded out NYC, this pulp tale is a survivalist action thriller, and part of a larger eco-dystopian world. You can read the original story, "How the Dun-in Man Got His Name" in Helios Quarterly's Best of Anthology, which dropped this summer. A novel-length work set in this world is in progress. Synopsis: Two outlay scouts fight their way through a flooded NYC wasteland. "Scraped by a marshpunk’s rusty pike, Nate wrapped his wrist and his forearm with the bandage the Dun-in Man had given him. Dried blood spotted the bandage like a cock-eyed face, and Nate had already begun to fret about the fever that would come later that night. Bacteria, homegrown in what had been Manhattan, would blossom." Pre-order link: https://books2read.com/DSPLI

New poems over at Ireland's  The Blue Nib " Somewhere a radio plays “Turn the Page” and your age comes in clips, synaptic breaks, so much is lost in the moment and regained" "Spotted Owl Hunting in a Brief Storm" is included in The Golden Walkman's" new episode     " A lake loves itself,  laps, and laps and laps. How cold water, the mother well.  How cold the sky up turning now" A short (about a 1000 words) horror tale is up at DisQuiet Arts . " Vic would late r recall the unzipping sound of wet skin and viscera ripping down as black flies came out of her father’s throat, the vomit still hanging on his lips as he tore his face.  " My Mad Max with Boats tale, "How the Dun-in Man Got His Name" is included in The  Best of Helios Quarterly.   " Irrevocably altered by climate change, a lone man alludes sharks and  mar shpunks in near-future Boston."  The same character from the aforementioned tale shows up in "Do...

Fourteen Hills  is out of San Francisco State, and a fine journal. Grateful to be included in this issue alongside many fine poets. The virtual release party is on June 11th. Not sure if I'm scheduled to read. Probably. I'll guess I'll find out. This poem is about climate change's impact on agriculture on the Eastern Shore. Flood water and flood waste can ruin a fine field of potatoes. Anyway, this poem is from a cycle of poems about climate change, economic depression & recession, and of course sound. Poor Yuck Mouth is a bitter old despot. Thank you Nik Greene, Chandler Fitchett, Elizabeth Rosas, and Dodie Bellamy for including me!

My poem "Privacy in a Small Town " is up at the Citron Review, part of their 10th-anniversary celebration this year. They were fine folks to work with.  Check out the other poets as well, Michael Lauchlan & Leah Mueller. This poem is also in Neighbors, an anthology from the folks at  Crack the Spine , who were also super easy to work with. PSA: Stay home. Make a gratitude list. Practice social distancing! Support small presses & literary journals. https://citronreview.com/2020/03/19/privacy-in-a-small-town/

Twin Peaks fans will find much to admire in this handmade chapbook from APEP Publications, from Chewsville, MD, a small press with fantastic aesthetics.  https://www.apeppublications.com/shop/ There are several fellows I already admired, and it's glorious to share this cool book with them. My contribution is a prose poem about addiction, obsession, walking, recovery, and fear. And about Laura Palmer being reborn again as Carrie Page. Personal note: Reminds me of what Finishing Line used to do, hand made books that felt great in the hands. Their catalog looks edgy to boot. Stay safe. Stay frosty. The chair is against the wall.

Grateful to have a poem, "Privacy In a Small Town", in Crack The Spine's new Neighbors Anthology. Read about it here. "Ask someone who lives in a small town  to swallow a Ferris wheel and they will  turn over secrets to a happy life. "

Psyched to have a prose poem included in this damn fine anthology of Twin Peaks poems. You can find out more here.  The anthology features some gorgeous details Twin Peaks fans will dig. 

Grateful to have a surreal fantasia poem included in Shout! from Not A Pipe Publishing, a passionate small press out of Oregon. Proceeds from the anthology will go to RAICES, The ACLU, and other organizations to help families affected by current immigration policy.  Order here.

Grateful to Poets Reading the News for publishing this piece and nominating it for the Pushcart Prize! Read it here  http://www.poetsreadingthenews.com/2019/09/incantation-whitaker/ Also, testing out DLVR.it account connections, forgive my oversharing today, New Year's Eve, 2019.

Workshop spots available for my creative writing class, Thursdays, from Feb through March (2/20, 2/27, 3/5, 3/12, 3/19, 3/26) at the Eastern Shore Community College (the website is listing the Fall Hours). 4:30-5:30 PM. From course description: Students will read poems and short plays, analyzing for content and technique. Students will compose original works. Students will critique each other’s works for content and technique. Prompts will be provided but will not be required. Students are encouraged to go on their nerve with regard to the work they will compose.

I forgot to post this one back in September. This prose poem was featured as a broadside in the 9th issue of the Hampton Rhoads literary zine, Penultimate Peanut.  

Grateful thanks to AvantAppal(achia)  for including two experimental poems in their new winter issue. One, "Mixtape..." is meant to be read track to track, so to speak. Track one of one side goes with Track one of the B side, etc. The other "Fireman Down" is written for two speakers. I've had a lot of interest in these multi-voiced poems from editors etc, but the formatting is a pain in the %^&$. Editors beware indeed. Happy New Year!

The folks over at Manzano Mountain Review have graciously selected "Young" and "From Here You Can See New Atlantis" (about floods and eco disasters) for their Winter Issue. You can read them here . Dreamstreets , one of the oldest literary journals in Delaware, showcased some new poems in their Winter Issue, which you can view here. If you didn't see my new work up at The Shore, a gorgeous new literary journal out of Salisbury, MD., check out "From End of America Fanasmagoria"  here , and a poem about my cat, or catwife (that's her, above)   here. Some new short fiction is forthcoming in 2020, and my novel of weird fiction is still forthcoming; it takes a while to edit an 800 plus page horror-thriller novel.