Reading #1 is on Friday, June 10, 2022 from 7-8pm! Poetry book launch at the Florence Mill (9102 N 30th St, Omaha).
This is my 4th book of poetry, just released by The Old Mill Press: At the Corner of Fantasy and Main: Disneyland, Midlife and Churros. I will read from the new book as well as answer questions and autograph books. See more at the Facebook Event Page.
I’m interviewed on 2 more podcasts this week, so check out The Skull Rock Podcast and the All About The Mouse Disney Podcast to hear a few poems and good talk about poetry.
I’m on the DLWeekly podcast today, with my interview starting at the 59:50 mark (after a deep dive into the week’s Disneyland news).
Herein, find out more about how when one starts writing a book they think is about Disneyland, they end up writing about a whole lot more. Plus, how it’s good to entertain the hosts so much that they order your book mid-interview.
Click here for the podcast:
https://www.dlweekly.net/231
It’s been a busy couple of months, and I have another poem featured this morning by the New York Times’ “Morning Update” newsletter (and in the print edition the next day) in response to last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Behind Capitol Violence, Poet Finds ‘a Speech That Caught the Right Ears’
In an odd turn, I had my first poem in the New York Times last week in the Tech section (random call for hammer poems, of course), and my second is today. They’ve published poems by State Poets/Poets Laureate for Thanksgiving. So Happy Thanksgiving everyone, stay safe.
In this virtual world, I’m doing more class visits via recorded videos and Zoom. It’s especially fun to have questions from students beforehand to incorporate into the presentation, like in this presentation for Creative Writing classes at Abraham Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs, Iowa:
Teacher Kourtney Abbotts sent this kind note after using the video for her classes:
“What an incredible day of presentations! You have given my students a whole new perspective for writing and poetry. Thank you for your hard work to make this happen. My kids LOVED the airplane and tornado poems because of the comparisons that you make. We have been talking a lot about comparisons to create more detailed thoughts and ideas.
I appreciate your help to advance the efforts of creative writing. Your writing routine of Monday deadlines is something the students really want to add to the class. We are going to use Mondays to turn in a piece they have worked on over the week. 🙂“
Kourtney Abbotts, Abraham Lincoln High School in Council Bluffs, Iowa
Spending a lot of time at home, I’m grateful for all those being careful out there, not just because I’m a Type 1 Diabetic but for all of us. I ran a writing prompt on guilty pleasures and 80s rock today for the Nebraska Writers Collective which is now available on their YouTube channel, so get to writing!
I have a lesson on writing odes available at Nebraska’s Teacher TV. It’s aimed at middle school students but good for all ages and only 27 minutes long:
We’re closing out National Poetry Month 2020 with a good amount of virtual events! The latest is this week’s Humanities at Home conversation put on by Humanities Nebraska:
A number of readings have, of course, been canceled this spring as we all help prevent the spread of Covid-19. So instead of reading at Western Nebraska Community College in Scottsbluff, we did it virtually with a few poems, some Q&A, and a writing prompt: