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Yes, I changed my shirt before taking that photo. 🙂 It's here, A Witness in Exile, with a beautiful book and cover design by Amy Letter, an incredible cover image by Judith Berk King, all done by an awesome press at LaLit run by Jack Bedell. You can get copies directly from me, and soon, … Continue reading Guess What Showed Up Today?

For the Thanksgiving holiday of 2003, Amy and I planned a trip to her brother's house in northern New Mexico for the holidays. Actually, Amy planned the trip--she's far more adventurous than I am and likes finding new ways to get to places she's been to before--and in this case, she discovered US Route 50 … Continue reading Some People Just Suck

You decide. This is Owlsley, the Fighting Burrow Owl of Our Fair University. And this is Brak, star of the Brak Show and Space Ghost Coast to Coast among others. Hmmmm.

I've had this bumping around in my head for the last few days, ever since Anis Shivani posted his list of "the 17 Most Important Poetry Books of Fall 2010." That post is what I had in mind when I referred to pomposity in my last post. Seriously? The most important books of a season? … Continue reading About those end of the year lists

I read a lot more poetry this year than I have in years past, due largely to the work I've been doing as poetry editor of The Rumpus. I don't read every book I receive--I don't have that kind of time--but I read a fair number of them at least in part, and I love … Continue reading Favorite Poetry Books of 2010

I found myself in a curious position a month or so ago. I had to admit in public that I'm an atheist. Well, "had to" is a bit of a stretch--I was doing a poetry reading, and in the Q&A section afterward, one of the audience members asked me, so I responded. (His question didn't … Continue reading On Atheist Communities

Many many thanks to Jack Bedell, my publisher and friend, to Judith Berk-King for the cover image, a photo of her plate titled "Temptation," to Gabrielle Calvocoressi, T. R. Hummer, and Davis McCombs for their generous blurbs. And especially to Amy Letter for designing the cover and for being generally the most awesome person on … Continue reading Guess Who’s Got a Book Cover?

Ron Santo died this morning. I never saw him play, so far as I can recall. He retired in 1973, which would have made me 4 and a half years old. I didn't really know who he was until I started listening to Cubs games semi-regularly about ten years ago, and I really got to … Continue reading Goodbye Ron Santo

Dear Students, You may think we don't see you texting during class. You may think you're being slick with your hand(s) below the edge of your desk, or with one arm dropped down by your side, your occasional furtive glances up to see if we're staring your down yet. You may even have the touch-texting … Continue reading You’re Fooling Yourselves

I think I'll avoid scrubbing the back of my hand for the next couple of days to maintain this entrance stamp, and thus my party-cred. Not that I actually partied or anything. It's proof that I paid to get into the 10 X 10 art show in Lake Worth. After it was over, we went … Continue reading I still like to party and party hard