A poem of mine is being shared in the Winter 2025 issue of Susurrus, “a literary arts magazine of the American South.” It’s one of my favorite lit mags and always features a different photographer in their graphic design – in this issue it’s Scott Craig from Roanoke, VA. His work is special! Grateful to be included with Mr. Craig and a terrific gathering of Southern writers.
New poem live at Stone Poetry Quarterly
My poem “If This Table Could Talk” is live at Stone Poetry Quarterly, a poem about a family kitchen table that started life in an Iowa farmhouse before the Great Depression and is currently a coffee table in a home library in Dallas, Texas – told from the point of view of the table. Thanks to D Ward Hey and the SPQ staff for sharing it with their readers.
Second poem nominated for 2026 Best of the Net
Another recent poem of mine, “Without Mountains,” has been nominated by Bracken Magazine for the 2026 Best of the Net Anthology. Amazed and grateful to have poems nominated by two journals this year – thanks to poetry editor Kate Deimling and the Bracken staff. If you like Nature-themed poetry, Bracken is special.
Without Mountains
I have returned without mountains to my small accustomed place,
bounded by a tottering fence of anonymous color,
old bird bath dark with rusted leaves and clouds of moss,
an exact space defined in all dimensions, detailed in city records,
this bought and paid for lot, entirely without mountains.
I can fill these spaces with one finger to my eye,
I can ask a friendly god a favor. A long way
from blind giants making their own weather,
throwing clouds of snow over granite shoulders
as if warding off some cosmic curse.
Some things are too big to be seen,
blurs of many seasons endured
in an alien morning, photographs futile,
perspective flattens and fails,
the vast forest we spent half a day traversing
shrunk into an afterthought of sticks.
I could never bear Good and Evil on such a scale,
someone once said of a famous book of myth –
the same when I was heavy with mountains,
beauty bearing down with crushing weight,
now sorting through the epic mysteries
to the stormy picture of you near the trail,
snowflakes across the secretless curve of your mouth
like fireflies, a smile I was glad to recognize
among the spectacular indifference,
a smile without mountains.
(First published in Bracken #13, June 2025. Thanks to the editors.)
“Enough” nominated for 2026 Best of the Net
For the second year in a row, I’ve been fortunate to have a poem nominated for the Best of the Net Anthology awards. While you definitely can’t depend on award nominations for writing inspiration, that positive energy can last a while. Grateful to Susan Swartwout and her staff at Delta Poetry Review.