Some News

I got a haircut, organized my desk...

Photo by Katie Wieck

…And signed a contract with Wiseblood Books for a full length collection of poetry that will be published in early 2026. The collection is finished, except that after I submitted mine, I then read co-Wiseblood poet Anna Lewis’ collection Memory’s Abacus and thought, “Whoa! She has some fireworks!” Then I got nervous and thought, “Maybe I should add a few more and tinker with some others.”

This is what every author does when the hope of being read publicly finally comes to bear. So five or six more poems, rounding the whole collection up to 50 poems. The earliest poems in this collection I wrote 20 years ago, deep in the shadow of Robert Penn Warren’s The Leaf which he wrote emerging from the shadow of Eliot’s The Wasteland.

Anyway, this is news and good news that I want to share with you all, but we’re still driving into a long headwind for the next couple of years. The world will be a totally different river by then. Lord willing and the prairies don’t burn, we’ll have a book in 2026. I sure appreciate y’all sticking with me.

More News

Poet, novelist, horse-whisperer, and fellow Amarilloan Chera Hammons is back after a hiatus. She announced a new collection of poetry will be published via

Belle Point Press on Substack

in 2025. She’s a perennial favorite of mine. I wrote about her here, here, and here. I’m very grateful for her authorial presence here in Amarillo. She jumped back on Instagram lately if you’d like to check her out before the new book arrives.

There is more news—like my friend Paul Pastor just announced that he’s also joined the Wiseblood stable with two(!) forthcoming collections—but I’ll let you all get back to your day, as I get back to mine which will hopefully have room for a few verses on high school football or sauerkraut.