It is moving day. New year, new book, new blog.

I have a poem in the new issue of The Journal, which showed up in my mailbox today.

I have a poem in the new issue of Sixth Finch, which went online today.

Michiko is dying in the house behind me,/ the long windows open so I can hear / the faint sound she will make when she wants / watermelon to suck or so I can take her / to a bucket in the corner of the high-ceilinged room / which is the best we can do for a chamber pot. / She will lean against my leg as she sits / so as not to fall over in her weakness. / How strange and fine to get so near to it. / The arches of her feet are like voices / of children calling in the grove of lemon trees, / where my heart is as helpless as crushed birds.                                                                                                                                                  from "Finding Something" —Jack Gilbert, 1925-2012

August

I am finally back in Tuscaloosa after 3.5 weeks of travel, golf, boats, olympics, bocce, etc. in the north and 1089 miles of driving over the past two days. It is too hot but it is almost always too hot. School starts tomorrow. Football starts in a week and a half. I am finishing my syllabus and wondering if I should get a second job and looking forward to a lot of kitchen experiments this semester. Looking forward to September 1st submissions as usual, though more focused on book submissions than individual poems these days.

I have a couple of poems in the fourth issue of ILK, which just came out and, as usual, has a lot of good stuff in it.

Skin Horse

                                                                             If you haven't read Olivia Cronk's book, Skin Horse, maybe I can convince you to with this review I did for Black Warrior Review.