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This announcement is very late. It’s so late the annual contests and submission calls for Cadence 2026 are now open (get details on the Florida State Poets Association website). My plans for this past fall and winter derailed when my father became suddenly, seriously ill. He passed in January. Since then, I’ve spent more time in Florida than my home base of Tennessee, learning a new cadence as I…

Part contest, part gathering, the Johnson City Poets Collective Poetry Pub Crawl offers an evening of fun & poetry. Judges select finalists (and winners) from among entrants, then the poetry community and public come together one pub at a time to hear contestants and guest poets read their poems. Their fifth Poetry Pub Crawl, my third time attending, this is fast becoming one of my favorite…

For their first special issue, the editors at Rawhead, a Journal of Art and Literature, asked for work on the theme Bloody Bones. The issue delivers. Discover a variety of takes on this provocative theme; dive in. I’m happy to share my poem “Beneath the Bones” was selected for publication in the issue. Rawhead’s editors offered such kind words about my poem; I’m honored, humbled, and so glad…

Tennessee Voices Anthology, 2024-2025, a poetry anthology from the Poetry Society of Tennessee, is now available. The anthology features winning and selected poems from a variety of poetry competitions the society holds throughout the year (learn more). Poets appearing on its pages range in age from elementary school children to octogenarians. The eclectic collection includes diverse topics and…

Poetry anthologies hold a unique space for witness through the impossible art of poetry. Gathered poems, diverse yet connected, carefully arranged. Behind each poem, find a poet gleaning insights and inquiries on the human condition, bringing experiences and sorrows and hopes to life, all in a linguistic framework that can never quite capture the thing complete but somehow says the unsayable…

I’m excited to share that Encore 2025, the annual anthology of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies, is now available. In contrast to my poems declined in this contest (most of them), “Once a Week at Unit 216 in Lemon Yellow” placed 1st in the The Maine Poets Society Award! (I received a couple of honorable mentions for other contests.) This was my first 1st place in an NFSPS…

This August, I take on the Nicole Sealey Reading Challenge! I learned about the challenge from a new Poetry Society of Tennessee member, Maggie Russell. What a wonderful way to help me tackle my (over)growing reading list. Thanks, Maggie! About the Challenge The Sealey Reading Challenge is simple, but daunting: read a book a day all August long. I invite you to join me in this quest to read 31…

Abyss & Apex recently published my poem “Relapse” in Issue 95, 3rd Quarter 2025, and I’m happy to share it with you. I reached into personal experience and grabbed a scientific metaphor to craft this poem. It took a few turns on its way to a finish, but I’m pleased with where it landed. I’m grateful to poetry editor John Mannone, a poet (and scientist) I greatly respect, for his feedback and…

I’m excited to share that Sunflowers Rising, a project of Poets for Peace, is now available for purchase. You’ll find my poem “This Poem is Not About Mars” in its pages, along with many other wonderful poems from peace-minded poets around the world. All proceeds from the creation and sales of this book will go directly to help the ever-growing number of orphans in Ukraine. About Sunflowers…

I’m chasing #100rejections again in 2025. Last year I joined a “#100rejections” Facebook group, where writers share their rejection tallies, occasionally talk about their rejection notes, and also share acceptances. Last year I hit 89 rejections. The idea is that more submissions = more rejections (and theoretically, more acceptances). I’m a bit behind. My count is 33, but growing. I’m also…

I recently returned from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where the Poetry Society of Tennessee held its 68th Annual Poetry Festival. The event was a partnership of the society, Poetry in the Boro, and MTSU Write. The society’s first in-person festival since before COVID (and first-ever hybrid event) featured a morning plenary session by Christian J. Collier and four separate tracks for the afternoon,…

Last year did not go to plan, but it ended with more rejections than I’d first anticipated. In August, I shared my efforts to get more rejections. The idea is that submitting more poems to more places will result in more accepted pieces. With a general acceptance rate of somewhere between 1% and 5%, for poetry, it behooves a writer to get busy with subs. Late spring last year (why does that sound…

Well, this was the fourth, technically–not–annual crawl (Thanks, COVID), but full of joy nonetheless. And wonderful poetry. Over the past five years, the Johnson City Poets Collective has four times hosted a unique poetry contest: the Poetry Pub Crawl. Poets submit poems, judges select finalists (and winners), then the poetry community and public come together one pub at a time to hear them and…

I’m pleased to share that “complatency” has been published in The Closed Eye Open, Issue X. I’m grateful to the editors who selected my work not only for this issue but also for their themed issue Ripples on the Pond: Meditation, published in the summer. (You can discover more of my published work here.) I’m also grateful to my “2nd Mondays” peer review group. “complatency” was one of those…