Here is another quick installment of my current musical obsessions. These albums are outrageously grand. I highly suggest all of them for your listening pleasure. Cheers! The Black Keys – Brothers The New Pornographers – Together The Dead Weather – Sea of Cowards The National – High Violet Pearl and the Beard - God Bless Your Weary Soul, Amanda Richardson Band of Horses – Infinite...

There are a couple sources of inspiration for this post. First, the other day I was typing some poems out of the ol’ notebook. Second, recently my Reservoir Dogwoods brothers have taken to calling me a, “poetry superstore,” because I tend to publish books and poems at relatively rapid pace. The relativity in this case is in relation to other poets, I think. All of this got me to thinking about...

Hey everyone: This is a quick note about the book release reading and party coming up this Friday in Bloomington. The event will be held at Boxcar Books. I’ll be reading with Tony Brewer. We’ll have crazy book discounts. Adult beverages. Let the good times roll on. You can check out the events page for more info. More to follow…

Greetings. I hope spring is blooming beautifully for everyone. My spring is looking very busy! Oh, National Poetry Month… you’re like Christmas for poets… but you last 30 days! As usual, National Poetry Month is shaping up to be very busy. And it’s doubly crazy-joyful because Your Casual Survival (my new book) is being published in April. Now, it’s time to get the word out. Tony...

If you’re interested in the cover art for the book, it was done by Amy Casey. She is awesome! The cover is absolutely gorgeous. You can learn more about Amy at her website here. Amy also provided artwork for the most recent Neko Case album, Middle Cyclone. And this is awesome because Neko Case is amazing. Also, Amy was recently featured on the cover of New American Paintings.

I’m a HUGE music listener. I tend to lean toward the “independent” music scene but I am kind of all over the place with my taste. So, I’m going post very irregular updates on what currently interests me musically. Perhaps you’ll find of them, or not. Enjoy! Here are the albums that I’m currently obsessed with: Yeasayer - Odd Blood Shearwater – The Golden Archipelago Florence...

I am not the most qualified person to write this review (or rant, or whatever it is). This credibility deficiency doesn’t stem from my lack of published reviews or my absence from the faculty of a well-known collegiate institution.  Both of those are also obvious shortcomings as well. But the core reason I’m not qualified to wrote the review of Sherman Alexie’s latest book, Face, is because...

Greetings people from the future! I hope the new decade has gotten of to a great start for everyone. How is it 2010? When did that happen? (I know, like 11 days ago) But I digress… Today, we’re announcing the publication of my next chapbook! This spring, Plan B Press will publish Your Casual Survival, my latest batch of poems. The book is going to be beautiful and I’m especially excited about...

If you’re interested in checking out a new batch of poems (mine and other excellent poets), you should pick up the latest edition of the Refined Savage Poetry Review (issue #6). The poems that appear in this publication, there are 6 of my poems in all, are part of the new, upcoming, not-yet-announced book that I’ll have out next year. But we’ll discuss this new project at a later date once...

In the poetry slam world too many poets focus on the points, or they focus on performance over content, or basically they focus on anything other than the poetry. As long as poetry slam exists, these issues will linger. With that being said, let’s talk poetry slam strategy! I know what you’re thinking: didn’t I just say that poetry slam should focus on the poetry and not the points? Yes, this...