Thank you, Rachel Neve Midbar at Calul Journal, for this feature of my work! I love how she combined my poems with some great, striking artwork from Faith Ringgold. Here's the link, friends. I hope you're surviving Monday! calul.substack.com/p/history-to...

Last one from Frigg. This one is about a childhood memory of my late brother. Thanks again to Frigg for publishing these -- and to you, for taking the time to check them out! Original link: friggmagazine.com/issuesixtyfi...

Here's a weird one, second of three appearing in Frigg. Thanks for taking a look! Original link: friggmagazine.com/issuesixtyfi...

Thank you, Ellen Parker of Frigg, for giving three of my poems a nice new home! Here's the first, "Time Capsule." Please check out the whole issue and give the other writers some love, too. Issue link: friggmagazine.com/index65.htm

This is pretty much the definitive video of the incident, proving that no, the officer wasn't struck and yes, ICE murdered her. www.nytimes.com/video/us/100...

Bystander: "Can I go check a pulse?" ICE: "No! Back up now!" Bystander: "I'm a physician -- " ICE: "I don't care."

ICE just murdered someone in Minneapolis, claiming self-defense. Like the time they denied casually tossing tear gas into the car of a Latino family with a baby just for kicks, video proves they're liars. If you voted for this, trusting this admin to do the right thing, time to wake the fuck up.

Happy New Year, friends! I'm glad you still exist. Here's an oldie from my third book, Damnatio Memoriae ("damned memory"). See you in 2026!

Another occasionally fun benefit of being half-deaf: I just heard a commercial whose slogan is "Rethink your pretzel," but I heard it as "We think you're a pretzel." To be fair, I can't disagree.

Just received a kind message from someone who saw my reading on Rattlecast (from a while back) and wanted to know if one of the poems I shared was in a book yet. It isn't, though Missouri Review gave it a home a while back. So obviously, I'll use this as an excuse to shamelessly self-promote. :)

Shortly before my mom died, they played Schindler's List commercial-free on TV. I was at a friend's but called home and asked her to tape it. Weeks later, she had her final heart attack. I don't even have a VCR but that worn yellowed label with her handwriting has been with me for 28 years.

I know it sometimes feels like we're standing in a burning house and all the doors are locked, but for what it's worth, thank you to everyone who's doing their best to hold on to their humanity. I know it's tough but no matter how bad things get, that matters. Deep breaths. Take care.

This was a tough one to write -- many thanks to Mark Danowsky for giving this one a home. oneartpoetry.com/2025/09/03/a...

The first ebooks in both of my fantasy trilogies (or books 1 and 3 of 6, if you want to think of it that way) are free on Amazon from now until the 18th (my birthday, coincidentally) if you want to add them to your collection! 🙂 I'll post both links below.

Thanks again to Poetry is Currency for publishing these! Here's the last from the feature -- a more experimental one originally inspired by a documentary I saw on a form of torture involving sensory deprivation. Here's the link to the whole feature, too: poetrycurrency.com/poet/michael...

And here's another (I guess about me being an anxious mortal idiot). :)

First of three new ones that just found a home in the fine journal, Poetry is Currency. This one was written during the pandemic while I was losing someone very dear to me (sadly not the last) and tried imagining what was happening from the virus's perspective.

Honored and grateful to have this one in Gulf Coast.

Happy Monday! Much love to Cider Press Review for publishing my poem, "Last Words of an Iowan." ciderpressreview.com/cpr-volume-2...

Thanks to Blue Mountains Review for giving this one a home!

New poem up on Exposed Bone today -- FYI, this one references my lingering guilt over using a sword (many years ago) to kill what I thought at the time was a rabid animal. www.exposedbonemag.com/pieces/heter...

Maddening that the left's response to Trump's social security lies was... a boring speech from right-leaning Dem, Elissa Slotkin, that practically nobody watched. Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders gave a response that got 50K hits just in the few minutes I was watching (over two mill. by morning).

In a final appeal, Trudeau called Trump "a very smart guy." I wonder how many shots of whiskey (or Maple syrup) he needed after having to compliment the intelligence of a guy who thought Frederick Douglass was still alive.

Well, the rapid and utterly asinine destruction of our country continues -- but on the plus side, I have one hell of a beef stew cooking.

I don't want us at war with Russia, obviously, but Trump (with Zelensky right next to him) just screamed about what a victim Putin is, then they kicked Zelensky out of the White House. Good grief.

Yay, my weird new fantasy story is out today! Many thanks to Sword and Sorcery Magazine for giving it a home. swordsandsorcerymagazine.com/burning-pig-...

Been thinking a lot about Machiavelli's "The Prince", which I taught for an Honors class many moons ago -- especially the part where a corrupt ruler sends in a bloodthirsty moron to screw things up, then gets rid of him earn back the people's trust once the useful damage is done.

Hello. Sorry to bother you but I'd like to return my unused portion of 2025, please. Here's the receipt. Yes, I'm sure. Yeah, I tried it out, but it just isn't working for me. Store credit is fine. Hell, I'd take some paper towels and an Arby's coupon at this point.

Listen, I know it's tough to stay positive when the grand old temple appears to be burning all around us, but just as photons of light can't perceive themselves and their impact, it's easy to forget we're better than this. Don't quit. Be there for each other. We need you.

Funny how the same team that made up a story about $100 mill. in condoms keeps "accidentally" fudging their own numbers. www.cnn.com/2025/02/19/p...

Racist stupidity transcends all borders, apparently. "Further complicating the incident, one of the injured men reportedly posted 'death to the Arabs' in a message on social media after the shooting." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Title poem from my fourth book, What To Do If You're Buried Alive (generously reprinted as a free ebook by Sundress). Pretty much sums up how I'm feeling most days lately. doublebackbooks.wordpress.com/poetry-books...

By "firing" all these workers, Trump and Musk have made it nearly impossible for them to collect unemployment -- unless they can get a lawyer and prove their dismissal was without merit. So while planes are going down, we have prices and unemployment going up. Expect crime and addiction to follow.

Happy Monday! Here's a new short one from one of my all-time favorite journals, Modern Haiku.

D.H. Lawrence was one of my early favorites -- especially his short, blunt poems. Always loved this one in particular.

Thinking a lot about all the family and friends I've lost these last few years -- so much brightness reduced to unread pages, dust on a shelf. They deserved better.

Happy Valentine's Day, folks! Here's an oldie from my first book.

To future historians, wondering what we knew and when we knew it: we knew all along. They didn't teach us about the Trail of Tears and "Never Again" for no reason. We heard the news, we saw the photos. Meanwhile, our leaders saw dollar signs -- and too many voters and artists didn't stand up.

I despise Hamas and want to see all hostages released, but it's tough to buy Netanyahu's outrage over half-starved victims when he himself blocked most of the food and aid, dropping 2K lb bombs on densely packed civilians. Even Trump hinted at a death toll of around 500,000.

All my life, I've seen Democrats ignore the warnings. Now, after perpetually advancing status quo candidates just to keep wealthy donors' taxes from going up, their only answer to an actual coup is feckless hand-wringing. So be good to each other, folks. We're on our own.

Was just looking at old drafts and I came across this likely twenty-year-old poem from my first book, "Leaving Iowa." Maddening how history spirals. Only the names change.

Well, it's not quite all of 'em, but most. :)

Here's the nonfiction piece that I wrote about my step-brother, who was shot and killed by cops in Milwaukee. This was a tough one but I'm very grateful to Brevity for publishing it. brevitymag.com/current-issu...