It’s August. That all important month in the Twang universe of my work. The swelter penetrates my bones and attunes to every ghost I carry from the holler well. The farm was its most quiet in August. More free time for the swimming hole and hanging from low branches. More time for haunting.

Speaking of Twang, did I mention it’s going to appear in 2025 from the amazing ELJ Editions? More on that here and here.

In other news, I visited Philadelphia for the first time this summer. Loved the art museum, visited Whitman’s tomb in Jersey, enjoyed some amazing restaurants and realized I could work in a public library again if it’s the Free Library in Philly! I also enjoyed some mixology fun (see photo above) and have watched a lot of old movies. (We took a Faye Dunaway journey and watched a lot of 90s queer cinemas classics during June.)

I have several cool (and wildly varied!) poems debuting in journals this fall. First looks at future projects, as well as poems from It Was Never Supposed to Be, Twang, and a couple of in-progress chapbooks. Meanwhile, work continues on the proof for It Was Never Supposed to Be. (That work begins for Twang in early winter.) We have a cover we hope to debut soon. A few writers have been asked to blurb. I need a new author photo, but have been vacillating about mustache, beard, both or neither! I need to mix it up!!

If you’re around Sunday, Aug. 11, tune into the Uncloistered Online Poetry zoom – I’ll be reading with a couple of amazing poets, including Yalie Saweda Kamara, the poet laureate of Cincinnati! You can register for the reading here.