Hello, friends! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and your
tryptophan hangover is not too terrible.
This month, my new poetry chapbook, HIGH WATER LINES, was released by
Prolific Press!
From the publisher: High Water Lines is a swan song for the American
dream, where the notion persists that anyone can still pull themselves up by
the bootstraps to escape poverty. This is a collection of poems for the working
poor, especially those that dwell in the places deemed “flyover country.” These
poems are for anyone who has ever had to pick up and move to chase a job or
escape eviction, for anyone who has ever had to punch a time clock or bust
their hump for a measly tip, for anyone seeking a better life in another country,
for anyone who is one emergency away from homelessness.
Copies are available on the Prolific website.
If you read it, as always, reviews and feedback are much appreciated!
I am also thrilled to share that my poem, "Comfort Animals," was
the first-place winner of the Seamus Burns Creative Writing Competition
(Northern Ireland). I am touched, honored, elated, humbled, to name a few.
Thank you so much to Judge Colin Dardis for choosing my poem as the winning
piece, and congratulations to my fellow poets! It will be published in the
upcoming issue of The Honest Ulsterman. In the meantime, you can check out a
video of me reading the poem on the Verbal Arts Centre’s Facebook page here.
I would like to say thank you to KC Reach Out and Read for inviting me
to read at their Librarian’s Happy Hour event. I wrote some original poems for
the occasion, “The Page” and “Suburban Library,” which have been posted on KC
Reach Out and Read’s blog here.
I received a new five-star review on my horror novella, Our Miss Engel. Amazon reader Red Butler calls it "A real dark old-school creep." So pleased you enjoyed, reader!
And finally, I am pleased to share that I almost have a complete first draft of Going Forth by Day, the
last book of The Order of the Four Sons series. My goal
was to have a rough draft completed by the end of the year. I don’t know if I’m
going to quite make it, but I’ll be so close, I won’t feel bad. Look for a
sneak peek next month.
Thank you so much for reading! Happy Holidays to everyone!