Award-winning author Leslie Pietrzyk has published an interview with me about my new poetry collection, What Haunts Me, over at her Work-in-Progress blog, where she features a regular “TBR” feature. I’m excited to share it here!
The Fall 2025 issue of Thimble Magazine includes my poem “Brief Rhapsody on Leisure (II)” alongside poems by Mary Biddinger, Sean Thomas Dougherty, and others. This poem is actually the companion piece to “Brief Rhapsody on Leisure (I)” that was published by Bennington Review in Fall 2023.
The Autumn Equinox 2025 issue of Plant-Human Quarterly includes my poem “I waited for the bee” in addition to writings by Sean Prentiss, Maggie Dietz, and fellow Word Works author Marilyn McCabe.
The Summer 2025 issue of The Midwest Quarterly includes my poem “To the Victor Go the Spoils” alongside work from my fellow April Gloaming Publishing author Darren C. Demaree.
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If anyone knows of additional contests for already published books (or galleys), please post a comment and I will add to the list.
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Recent update in October 2025: Added the Edna Meudt Poetry Book Award and Julie Suk Award. Removed the Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award and the Milton Kessler Poetry Book Award. Fixed some broken links.
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Note: advice of most of these contests is to submit book as soon as possible during submission period.
Continue reading “Contests for Already Published (Poetry) Books – Updated October 2025”
Very excited for my third appearance in South Dakota Review, which published my poem “Rib” in issue 59.1 in Fall 2024. Just got my contributor copy last week and am happy to see my work alongside that of Susan L. Leary, Michael Meyerhofer, Stella Wong, and many other fine writers.
The Brevity Blog published my craft essay “Circling the Drain: The Movement from Idea to Essay” on 25 August 2025. The piece elaborates on my craft process in an extended metaphor.
My poem “The Most Beautiful Clown in the Circus” appears in the inaugural issue of Lamp Lit. The poem was inspired by my visit to the David Bowie exhibit at Gropius Bau several years ago, where I got to see his Pierrot costume. Bowie had told the designer to make him “the most beautiful clown in the circus.” How could I pass that up for inspiration?
You can download a copy of the issue or read it for free online at this link.
I wrote the featured article for the 6 June 2025 issue of FundsforWriters, published weekly by Hope Clark, in which I offer tips based on my own experience soliciting blurbs for my books and writing blurbs for others. Below is a short excerpt.
Continue reading “Dos and Don’ts When Seeking Book Blurbs”Another of my short prose pieces on the topic of waiting appears in the new double issue (33|34) of Emerge Literary Journal.
Click here to read the piece , or click here to check out the whole issue.
