I wrote this poem a bit ago. Have been shopping it out for a while. Rejection Letters were the only ones brave enough to publish it. For that, they have my thanks.
Dust and Ashes - Chapbook Accepted for Publication by Californios
My chapbook Dust and Ashes was officially accepted for publication by Californios Press and is scheduled to be released this Fall.
This collection is a series of responses to a variety of visual and literary art, using the Jewish Torah and Christian New Testament as a (rough) backdrop.
I figured I should put my Masters of Arts in Theological Studies (concentration: Hebrew Bible and theology and the arts) to good use this time around.
More information to follow.
"an open letter to (FUCK) you": a Mirco Poem Published in Versification
Some people find my poetry offensive.
I judge them by what they find offensive.
“an open letter to (FUCK) you” is no different.
Thanks to the wonderful people at Versification for highlighting it in their inaugural issue.
“Condolences On The Passing Of Your confederate Monument”
The Writing Process
Step 1. - Be pissed off
Step 2. Write
Step 3. Submit at 12:30 am
Step 4. Have an acceptance letter by 1 am
And such is the tale of the publication of my (brand) new poem “Condolences On The Passing Of Your confederate Monument,” currently up at The New Verse News.
Finding a little bit of dark humor in the midst of utter business as usual bullshit in this country.
Two school poems in The Revolution (Relaunch)
I am happy to be a part of the historic The Revolution (Relaunch) with their acceptance of two of my poems.
I’ll let the titles speak for themselves:
“an open letter to the white teacher who threw a Black boy out of her class for wearing too much lotion”
&
“an open letter to those wondering why I’ve called this the most racist place I’ve ever worked”
#NoChill
Read them here
On the Cultural Appropriation of the Dead and a New Poem Published
I went to a writing conference shortly after Toni Morrison died. The conference was fine for the most part. Ideas were fleshed out. Writing was done. Some lovely scenery and people.
Click to read
But then there was the obligatory panel discussion to lament the passing of a literary icon. All well and good.
Until I looked up at the panel and noticed something strange but, sadly, not surprising.
The poem I wrote in response was published by the good people at Bryant Literary Review .
It’s called “an open letter to the white feminists holding a literary panel on Toni Morrison.”
And you can read it here (pg 65).
"mannish water" in Baltimore Review
The Baltimore Review has published my poem “mannish water.”
If you don’t know what mannish water is, Google is your friend.
The poem is a story from childhood.
And that’s all I have to say about that…
[Say gravity is grace enough for god-] in The Amethyst Review,
Another of my theological sonnets has been accepted by The Amethyst Review.
[Say gravity is grace enough for god-] shows that I paid (some) attention in both my science and theology courses in college.
Some.
Click here to read it.
"Sai no Kawara" -- New Poem in The Ekphrastic Review
Jizō Bosatsu,1279.
Artist in Japan,
Wood, lacquer, bronze, gold leaf and crystal.
On a recent visit to the Peabody Essex Museum (Salem, MA), I came across this striking figure on display.
The work alone stirred something within me, but after I read up on his story, I began drafting in earnest. The world being the terribly small place that it is, a week later some of my students gave a presentation on a short story wherein the mythos behind this statue is a key component.
So in a way this poem is three-times ekphrastic: the mythos, the statue, the modern short story.
In any event, the good people at The Ekphrastic Review have seen fit to publish my poem Sai no Kawara.
New Sonnet up at The Amethyst Review
Another one of my theological sonnets—
[Say prayer’s correctly rubbing God’s back]—has been published by The Amethyst Review.
This one explores the human desire to get a signal out—to be heard and responded to by the numinous. Somehow appropriate for our current reality of social distancing.
Oddly enough, the inspiration for this poem came from a conversation with a student (as many do): something relatively psychotic about a rabbit’s foot. This is what it turned into. I think she would be pleased.
A Happy Poem Published in Solstice
In general, I am happy when any of my poems find publication. But some bring me more joy than others.
This is one of those times.
My poem “an open letter to my mixed little “Sisters Who Kept Their Naturals”” was just published in Solstice, and my heart is full.
While the connection and indebtedness to Gwendolyn Brook’s “To Those of My Sisters Who Keep Their Naturals” should be apparent, as with many of the poems in my “open letter” cycle, this piece has a intended audience and specific muses.
They know who they are, what their strength means to me, and how proud I am to be their big brother (multiple puns intended).
New Poem in Spiritus
“The Third Renunciation”—one of my theological sonnets—was published in the latest issue of Spiritus (20.1).
It takes its title from Mary Margaret Funk's discussion of the 4th century monk John Cassian's three-fold denials in order to follow a path of spirituality:
First, we must renounce our former way of life and move closer to our heart’s desire, toward the interior life. Second, we must do the inner work (of asceticism) by renouncing our mindless thoughts.…Third, and finally, we must renounce our own images of God so that we can enter into contemplation of God as God" (Thoughts Matter, 9).
It is also the ‘title track’ of a book of poems I am shopping for publication (so if you like this one, and know anyone who wants to publish a bunch more like it, hit me up).
Three Poems in Poemeleon
Poemeleon has accepted three of my poems for their TRUTH/Y Issue:
“an open letter to the school resource officer who almost shot me in my class” ~ reprinted from Gravitas and Teaching While Black
"an open letter to the poetry editor of [name withheld on advice from counsel]” ~ a true (enough) story
"…and who is my neighbor?" ~ the “Parable of the Good Samaritan” retold for our #movement times.
Two Poems in Show Us Your Papers (Anthology)-- Currently in Pre-Sale
Two of my poems will appear in the upcoming anthology Show Us Your Papers:
“legacy” ~ on emails containing last wills and testaments
and
“we all have to make sacrifices” ~ on racial microaggressions against the people least likely to shoot up a public school.
From the Introduction of the anthology:
Show Us Your Papers speaks to a crisis of identity and belonging, to an increasing sense of vulnerability amid rapid changes in the USA. While corporations wait to assign us a number, here are 81 poets who demand full identities, richer than those allowed by documents of every sort. Here are poems of immigration and concentration camps, of refugees and wills, marriage and divorce, of lost correspondence and found parents, of identity theft and medical charts. In an era where the databases multiply, where politicians and tech companies sort us into endless categories, identifying documents serve as thumbtacks. They freeze the dancing, lurching, rising and falling experience of our lives. The disconnect between our documents and our identities is inherent, reductive, frustrating, and, too often, dangerous. Yet we cannot live without them. In this anthology 81 poets offer a richer sense of our lives and histories—richer than any “official paper” allows. These lyric and narrative forms demand that readers recognize our full identities: personal, familial, national, and historical…
[Forthcoming] Two More Sonnet-Like Poems Will Appear in The Amethyst Review
Continuing my heretical (?) take on “unholy sonnets,”
[Say gravity is grace enough for god-]
and
[Say prayer’s correctly rubbing God’s back]
will be joining my other poems in The Amethyst Review: the former in April, the latter in May.
The Amethyst Review has previously published:
[Forthcoming] Poems in Baltimore Literary Review & Ploughshares
Baltimore Literary Review has accepted “mannish water”
and
Ploughshares has accepted “twelve minutes a slave” for publication.
It’s been a solid week.
Poem published in Take a Stand, Art Against Hate
“said the band-aid to the shotgun wound”
is being reprinted in Take a Stand, Art Against Hate: A Raven Chronicles Anthology.
This poem, originally published in Teaching While Black, explores everything wrong with the application of uncritical anti-bias trainings in public school settings. Or at least what I could fit into one long poem before my head exploded.
I proud to have it included in this anthology.
Two poems at Dappled Things
I did a stint as a Christian mystic. I reality, I just read a lot about Christian mysticism, mindfullness, contemplation, meditation, acedia, and a whole trove of related materials, attempting to find…something. The Desert Mothers and Fathers, philosophers and hermits, poets and academics.
Of course such musing birthed poetry. And, somehow, Dappled Things’ found two of them worthy of publication.
“…as yourself” ~ an attempt to find the balance between “the Golden Rule,” “the Two Great Commandments,” and the mystic’s distrust of “Self.”
“the prophet speaks against Rilke” ~ an ekphrastic response to Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Ick bin auf der Welt zu allein und doch nicht allein genug”
The only answer I'll give about the poems in Teaching While Black
Two Poems Reprinted at Digging Press
Digging Through The Fat: A Literary & Arts Journal for Cultural Omnivores republishes works from around the internet.
Community No 41.
Two of my poems were selected for Community No 41.:
“the surprising thing,” &
“when asked what i learned in elementary school being bussed from Mattapan to Wellesley.”
Both are included in my chapbook Teaching While Black.
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