I’m humbled and excited to share some big news! Main Street Rag Publishing Company is publishing my first book. I can’t believe it. This is a chapbook of poetry that I’ve been working on for the last five years. Advance sales are underway for publication in about 5-6 months. Check out the link below to get a copy for $7.50. I would be incredibly grateful if you would consider buying a copy, as advance sales make the publication possible. It’s beyond thrilling simply to have a dream of mine become a reality, and I would greatly appreciate the support. This is a deeply personal collection about being a father, navigating the world around us, and encountering wonder. I look forward to sharing more about the book and the publishing experience. If you are interested in learning more or want to connect about poetry or writing, let me know! Take care and be well.

Click here to purchase a copy.

Gunshots

 

Across the highway

some local boys

are reading the second amendment

out loud

 

Or maybe it’s just fireworks

this time of year

Both jolt me out of sleep

on warm summer nights

 

The boys un-rack their rifles

from pickup cabins:

pop-tops hissing

over campfire crackle

 

emboldened by onlooking girls

with nervous smiles

and then

the violent little pow!pow!

 

pow!pows! pulverizing empties

Come September

these boys and their dads

unsheathe 20-gauges

 

and scan the sky for doves

over fields nearing harvest

Good hunts like

corn popping in the clouds:

 

hot kernels rain down

on my roof

those Saturday afternoons

By fall’s end

 

the rifles return

to thunder across daybreak:

a scoped roar

stills the earth

 

for a time

I lie in bed thinking

That’s the one

That’s the sound

 

of one of those boys

taking a life

in a clearing

I cannot see

 

but know to be nearby

 

*Published originally in TAB: The Journal of Poetry & Poetics, Volume 9, 2021, Issue 2

Thanks for visiting my site. I’m excited to share my work with you. A special thanks to Sarah Park Rankin for her awesome design work and making this site possible! I look forward to posting new writing soon. Feel free to visit the Contact page if you’re interested in connecting.

• “Starting Over”
  Apeiron Review, Spring 2020, Issue 17
• “Orbit” *
  Anapest Journal, June 2020
• “Water Cycle” *
  Sky Island Journal, Summer 2020
• “Pastime” 
  Aethlon: The Journal of Sport Literature, vol. 37, no. 1
• “Unraveling” *
  White Wall Review, August 2020
• “My Refugees”
  Potomac Review, Fall 2020, Issue 67
• “Friday Night Lights”
  Potomac Review, Fall 2020, Issue 67
• “Flight”
  Poets Choice, January 2021
• “November 4”
  The Chaffin Journal, 2021
• “Gunshots”  *
  TAB: The Journal of Poetry and Poetics, Volume 9 2021, Issue 2 
• “Regeneration”
  Lily Poetry Review, March 2021, Issue 5 
• “All-Time QB”
  William & Mary Review, March 2021, Vol. 59
• “Anthem”
  Broad River Review, 2021
• “Last Call” *
  The Westchester Review, Winter 2022
• “Men with Guns” *
  The Indianapolis Review, Winter 2022
• “Ricochet” *
  The Bookends Review, January 2022
• “Lions & Bears”
  Litro Magazine, March 2023
• “Early Birds”
  Lakeshore Review, No. 3 Winter 2023
• “The Catawba”
  Plainsongs, Spring/Summer 2023
• “Tilt”
  The Ear,  Poetry Issue 26
• “My Old Bodies”
  Sky Island Journal, Issue 24, Spring 2023
• “The Good Stuff”
  William & Mary Review, Summer 2023

*Click to read online