There I am prepping the 6th and 7th batches of SAGINAW no. 15 to send out. Batches 4 and 5 went out this weekend. It's a great issue (Brenda Hillamn, David Perry, upfromsumdirt, Erin Vosters, Han VanderHart, Christina Shah, JD Mitchell-Lumsden. DM me a postal if you want one. Free to good readers.

new issue coming soon, promise!! you know how every day is busier than the last. if you have any ideas for little stories, funny cartoons, flash fiction... i'll consider whatever! email me! editor @ verylittlenews . org

My poem is going to be read on WNYC morning edition on Friday at 8:19AM!!

"Pull My Daisy" Any communities doing benshi (moving telling) events? Beijing would like to hear how you guys are doing it.

Going to the post office to send out the second batch to make way for the third and fourth batches. This is a fantastic issue. If you'd like one, DM me a postal address. Free to good readers.

April reading sorted.

In olden days of postal subs, no simultaneous subs became required because the lag time between getting accepted by one journal and informing the second might take so long the second could have your work in the final round, cutting off the opportunity for another piece to be considered in time.

One of the things I miss about living in the SF Bay Area is talking baseball with poets.

Whether you know Kyla's poetry or not, read this review of her latest. It highlights something deep, imo: Surreality without depression and withdrawal. Kyla's poems, like her frogs, are odd and attractive, and they remain frogs in the face of nuclear weapons & stock markets & stray dogs & theology.

The first batch went out yesterday. I’ll be sending more out over the weekend. If you’d like one (it is a pretty great issue), DM me a postal address. Free to good readers.

I am currently assembling SAGINAW no. 15, featuring Brenda Hillman, David Perry, @upfromsumdirt.bsky.social, Erin Vosters, @hanvanderhart.bsky.social, Christina Shah, and J.D. Mitchell-Lumsden. This is a really great issue. Free to good readers. If you'd like one, DM me a postal addy.

Sound artist Sun Wei will discuss "The Moment and Place of Listening" for the World Listening Project this Wednesday (7 am New York time, 7 pm Beijing time). You can register to attend via zoom here: linktr.ee/worldlistening

Joy Harjo's BASIC RULES FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT POETS

We're open for submissions! Send us your best prose or poetry: variantlit.com/submit/

Paid a morning visit to the God of Originality (Guandi Temple, Chengde China).

I'm very happy to have three poems in the latest issue of A New Ulster: www.scribd.com/document/100...

Have you been working on an essay about Canadian poetry? Do you want to write an analysis of a poem? Have you been thinking about interviewing a prominent Canadian poet? Pitches can be sent to [email protected] any time! For more details, visit our submissions guidelines: buff.ly/RkD46CA

Was talking to someone who was lamenting how thankless writing book reviews can feel. They really do matter to small press presses and small press authors. They are definitely a service to the writing community. (Note to self: write a poetry book review soon, in April maybe)

The latest issue of my little magazine, +doc, is now available! Featuring four longer poems by @unionherald.bsky.social, Leela Raj-Sankar, and Maggie Chirdo. For more info or to order a copy: nullpointerpress.blogspot.com/2026/02/doc1...

That said, I often go to the "Wen Huai" (Scholar) Tree in my area. It's said an important poem was written here and also that the guy who wrote the Dream of the Red Mansion spent a lot of time under this tree. The tree looks scrappy and nobody seems to care about it.

When Susan Schultz was in China, she talked about trees, which got me to appreciating the trees in my area. In Jingshan Park, behind the Forbidden City, is an imposter tree stand-in for the suicide tree that ended the Ming Empire. It's a fake of a fake. There are many other fake trees the city.

In whatever small scene poetry community you are in, you can buy a $10 stapler and make zines of your community's stuff, like a yearbook. That is real cool. And/or you can decide to ask poets you super admire, out of your league even, for some work, and some just might give it to you. Just saying.

I took time off in January to relearn math for a teaching certification test. I hadn’t done geometry, statistics or algebra in literal decades. I needed to get 150 for math, got 190 (95%). A few more tests to go, but passing this one is a huge relief.

Make zines

5 authors by whom I've read at least 5 books: Balzac Amiri Baraka Camus Chrétien de Troyes Jackson Mac Low (didn't count the handfuls of single volume collected works I've read, Shakes, Carl Sandburg etc...)

No cheating, your last saved picture of a celebrity is your therapist. (Not sure I'd go to him for therapy, but I would definitely listen to his life advice.)

The morning walk after an evening sandstorm always feels extra refreshing.

Have decided it's time to learn a few things about dance. Zi Huayuan looks at dance in China, from neolithic times to about the late 1990s. Most looking forward to her "A Comparison Between Dance and Non-dance." Hopefully, this will give me a basic vocab to discuss an art form I enjoy watching.

The grammar mathematics I learned while living in the Deep South: I will do it. 100% I might do it. 50% I might could do it. 25% Modal exponents should get standardized.

Me and Man o' War here wishing you guys the focus, energy and stamina to accomplish the things you're working on in the Year of the Horse.

If you have a book coming out in the next three months (or it came out in the last year) hurry before they give me new responsibilities at work and my busy season takes over the whole calendar — dm for mailing address

With Chinese New Year break coming up, I've decided to get more familiar with Mary Oliver. I've only read single poems here and there. Wish she hadn't started off her craft book with this sentence: "Everyone knows that poets are born and not made in school."

Publications paying writers up to $150 for writing about #writing. Many #writers have successfully promoted their work over the years by writing about writing and #publishing. 🔗 authorspublish.com/16-places-th...

That said, I used to do a 100 letters projects for many years. For most years, I managed 50-60 actual in the mailbox letters. I would love to start a new 100 letters project. If you would like an actual letter in the mail, DM me your addy. I don't expect reciprocity, but an email would be nice.

Reminding myself that rather than scrolling endlessly here (which, sorry to say, looks more and more like why I left the last place) I could read one of those books nearly falling off my shelf or write a letter to a dear friend.

Re-reading Bai Juyi and am again impressed with how he dealt with abuse of power, poverty, and general bad times. Plus ça change . . . .

I'm doing a featured reader thing in Beijing in April, and thinking of the many ways I can Jerome Rothenberg Fluxus my moment. This clip features Stephanie Young as support. media.sas.upenn.edu/pennsound/au...

This is the first time I've been asked for writing advice: "Try it and see if it breaks. If it doesn’t break, keep going until it does or until you reach the end of your investigation into that form." Yeah, I stand by that.

An interview with me about writing is now up on Mosiac Digest (many thanks Hazel Ivy): tinyurl.com/3tbcfxzd

Shanghai Stanzas Yearbook photo: Stephanie Anderson, Marc Belisle, (front) Susan Schultz, David Perry (back), David Horton, Erin Vosters. A pretty fantastic evening of poetry.

If you're in Shanghai this Friday, come to Shanghai Stanzas, with the amazing @susanmschultz.bsky.social, Stephanie Anderson, David Perry, Marc Belisle, Erin Vosters, & me. It'll be a night of pretty great poetry. Susan is visiting SH and I'm very excited to hear her read. What an absolute treat!

Very happy to have a poem in the new issue of Juste Milieu. You can see the entire zine here: tinyurl.com/yu97waf5

Velociraptors with day jobs. High school field trips to the Jurassic. Becoming a fossil in a far future museum. My debut poetry collection Time Travel Is Easy is available pay-what-you-want on Itch! dinoholler.itch.io/time-travel-...

Happy 大寒 (Great Cold) to all who observe it. The Chinese lunar calendar nailed it this year. Today is one of the coldest days in Beijing so far this winter (currently 9ºF/-13ºC). I'll be inside drinking tea and listening to Thelonius Monk if you need me.

has it already been 3 months since this dropped? feels like ive been promoting this for over a year! get your copy wherever you like, but @kentuckypress.bsky.social still has their discounted sale going on until the end of january.

If you're in Shanghai this Friday, come to Shanghai Stanzas, with the amazing @susanmschultz.bsky.social, Stephanie Anderson, David Perry, Marc Belisle, Erin Vosters, & me. It'll be a night of pretty great poetry. Susan is visiting SH and I'm very excited to hear her read. What an absolute treat!

Name your fav film from a women director

The recent incident at the Ford factory in Detroit has me revisiting one of the city’s finest poets, Philip Levine.

A teacher friend of mine told me my book Maze Poems is currently being used at the Affiliated High School of Remin University for their creative writing module. I think that's great. If you teach high school English and are curious about it, you can see some samples here: tinyurl.com/5j5d2bxy