Author: Brian

"Eating a Muffuletta in Des Moines" by meThis isn’t a real post, not the way I think of the writing I’m doing in this space. It’s more an excuse to post some pictures of something and also talk about a poem I wrote a while back. I’ve got a real post in the works right … Continue reading It's that day

"Dad Joke" by Amorak HueyMy twin daughters have, at the tender age of nine, mastered the exaggerated exhaustion response to dad jokes. Sagan’s is sardonic, a “nice dad joke” combined with an eye roll, while Tesla usually comes back with an elongated “daaaaaa-aaaad.” Sometimes they laugh first, if they’re not hungry or in a huge … Continue reading Backwards Poets Write Inverse

I’m currently working on the latest piece for Another Poem to Love. Sorry for the delay, but it’s the end of the semester and I’m trying to get all that done and my “write other things to avoid the work I need to do” strategy hasn’t quite worked like it usually does. Weird. But I … Continue reading A little personal news

On "Jubilate Agno" by Christopher Smart and poems modeled after itThere’s a scene early in The Lego Movie where our protagonist Emmet Brickowski is saying good morning to everyone and everything as he begins his day and heads to work. Along the way he meets Sherry Scratchen-Post and her many cats, and Emmet knows all … Continue reading Everybody's got a Jeoffry

Did I mention my hobby yet? I really thought I had, but I glanced back at my introductory post and bio and didn’t see it. I know I mentioned it in the comments over at Isaac Fitzgerald's Substack, Walk It Off in a post about helping yourself while you help others, so maybe that’s what … Continue reading Crochet Projects and Giving Back

On Matt Donovan's "Here the Thing with Feathers Isn't Hope"The first and so far only time I fired a gun was when I was a kid. Maybe a teenager but I don’t think so, not quite. We were visiting my uncle Bee in Tennessee and one night, not long after dark, he asked us if … Continue reading When the first thought isn't always the best thought

on Camille Dungy's "Notes on what is always with us"Near the end of spring break in 2020, back when we thought maybe we’d be able to control Covid with a couple of weeks of lockdown, my uncle Dave went into the ICU and straight onto a ventilator. Over the next two weeks, he died twice … Continue reading The Need to Swim with Predators

and "Love Poem Beginning with a Yellow Cab" by José OlivarezThis is a love story. This is the story of how I fell in love with poetry and what it can do to me. Is it going to be corny? Oh hell yes. So let’s get in this TARDIS over here, the dingy one that … Continue reading An Origin Story of Sorts

"One More Attempt at Disaster Preparedness" by Jeannine Hall GaileyI’ve been feeling my age of late, or trying to unfeel it perhaps. My gym app has a “feature” that tells me my biological age, which is of course much higher than my calendar age because for a great many years (read most of my life) … Continue reading Another Poem to Love, Attempt 1

I guess an introduction is as good a place to start as any. I’m Brian Spears. I’ve been a poetry editor at The Rumpus since it went live in 2009, and I published a collection of poems back in 2011 titled A Witness in Exile with Louisiana Literature Press. I have some copies in my … Continue reading Welcome to Another Poem to Love