YouTube video by Lit Balm: An Interactive Livestream Reading Series

My Heart Answers Listen: it wasn’t real—I know that.But the light in the dreamwas this invented gold,the kind you get in paintingsof saints or memory.We were older, but the same.No greetings, no how h...

Begin with negation, to speak the unspeakable  a negation ascending until "the ignorance of clouds"  listen to the surge and vanish of waves in grooves of sand  the surge of foam and pebbles, or push ...

"So I was in this hyper masculine world where I truly felt this is not something we do, we don't admit we're vulnerable, we don't admit we're struggling, we don't even put ice on when we're sore. So t...

Trust Swept Away Briskly (or Utter Emotional Gutting Without Healing Likely) I look to the bluetight as a drumheavy vultures slipping forwardcircling over death the imperial secretis the samedaylight ...

Four Things To Read, Four Things To See, Four Things To Listen To, and Four Things About Me

Among my pre college fantasies about a future career was architecture. And it is through architecture that I first thought about Iran, for I saw pictures of the many gorgeous buildings in that nation,...

YouTube video by Lit Balm: An Interactive Livestream Reading Series

Untoward untoWard untowardUntoward untoWard untoward unToward untoWard untoward unToward untoWard untowardUntoward untowardUntoward un Toward untowardUntoward unToward untowardUntoward untoWard untowa...

formfromacondensedsound droplet descendentfromcreation’swilledword placentaofholyname buried under the umbrellaof the gnosis tree in the near at hand landfar away in our lost identity we hold in one h...

The Concrete Chimera On the corner of 3rd avenue & Yesler Way , secretly seattle, washington. Must falling feel like concentrated frostbite            leaves into fossils,Fed as tinder,            int...

Careful What You Write leading a group of imaginary men to a placea stable, surrounded by angels, blissful parentsthis may someday be considered such a Truthdare me to not believe in your story, to na...

Time means nothing to a little boy. Reading Moby Dick is the equivalent of getting rid of a twisted turd. ‘Let’s play Hide and Seek,’ says Lilly. ‘Wait,’ I say. ‘I am thinking.’   I want to play landl...

On April 29, 2026, the Unlikely Saints gathered at Bar Redux in New Orleans for a night of poetry, cupcakes, and fun! Poets Xander Bilyk, Penda Smith, Jennifer Polson Peterson, and Nordette Adams read...

Unlawful Meanings When, by tectonic force of nerveI plummet to the skySetting fountains on fire with my lungsIn the infirm vitality of a jutting day When, in the pulse of auricular orgasmsI jolt like ...

and there I was thinking   la migra skipped my neighborhood because       of divine intervention or something;           such good luck              for my sweet neighbors still wearing my little whis...

“When you're born, you look like your family. When you die, you look like your choices.” -Christian Cage AEW Dynamite *** You walk into a shaded arena, on the lam from an overwhelming sense of alienat...

AI is devouring our industry and undermining access to factual information. We all have a duty to fight back.

Built in 1929, the CAT 15 bulldozer in Martin’s barn boasted a massive 4-cylinder engine behind its tall, stately grille. It had been sitting in there collecting dust and birdshit for at least forty y...

Friends, I am delighted to announce that I have snagged a paid gig writing some copy and providing images for some online advertisements for Mbrako Ormo Koncept’s upcoming international campaign.   Be...

Landing in Florida immediately invalidated my long johns. The urge to peel off my flight hoodie, thermal shirt, and sweater round my waist became primal. The anxiety in the Orlando airport rose like h...

Yeah, no, it’s what it is: my life is a red flag in a cute font. It’s what it is: my life is a dumpster fire with a killer soundtrack. It’s what it is: my life is a group chat with no admin. It’s what it is: my life is a raccoon wedding officiated by a toaster. It’s what it is: my life is a dream inside a burrito inside a courtroom. It’s what it is: my life is a therapy in meme format. It’s what it is: my life is a series of messenger pigeons suiciding elsewhere. It’s what it is: my life is a haunted vending machine that has run out of coins. It’s what it is: my life is a soft no disguised as “maybe.”

some days it seems like all we can do with our lives is lose them we wear Black skin in Americawe know every moment spent outsidewe are endangeredwe are exposedwe carry the tension of looming threat t...

Studies of a Field #9   no wind / the thought of death             and wild senna the sun opens the blue mouth of a            dayflower / being collects into landscape / a mind            infused wit...

Passive Observer It swims in through the wallLike a goldfish swimmingInto and out of perceptionAnd unexpectedly lightWhen you try it again toTo lift her little body up(is it really all that you were?)...

Mother Columbia, did you know?America, your daughterland, has your brutality.It’s as plain as red in snow. The people, the parties, ever seek ammo,their bodies bursting with carnality.Mother Columbia,...

“Give a wolf a taste of your leg and he’ll ask for your hand. Once they have a taste, they’ll be back in the Fall.” 7 SamuraiAkira Kurosawa   Frankie Metro The Dumpster Divers’ Jamboree plays on in th...

This time the news was completely delivered in under a minute, but I caught it and it made me rise from my seat. “Yes!” I heard myself say to the TV. “Yes! Of course!“ It was 1992 now, and while years...

Remembering the Reverend Jesse Jackson   Southern Democrats became Republicans because Jackie Robinson stole home. Jesse Jackson eulogized Jackie, referring to his body as a temple of God. Some people...

Betty Smith’s 1943 classic remains relevant and affecting

The claims of the Scarry book (from the back cover)The traditional understanding of Shakespeare’s first seventeen sonnets.   Elaine Scarry says we now know the name of the young man Shakespeare wrote ...