Here’s a selection of recent journals and anthologies that include my work, back to about 2012 when I started this site. You should be able to click on the titles and/or images to read more and to purchase the publications, at least for those that are still extant.
Click here to see a full list of publications.
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Maintenant 18
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I don’t know how it’s possible that the Maintenant journal gets radder every year. Yeah I said radder, as is radial, radius, radiant and screaming from the heart. It’s pretty much a palace of radical thought, with each piece an I-beam. Yeah I said eye-beam. This year’s issue, or I should say issuance, takes on the madness of Late (we wish) Capitalism with the strident theme of Plutocrazy, and it is true to its coinage. Peter Carlaftes and Kat Georges, the overseers and forepersons of the alchemical piledrivers from Three Rooms Press who shape and found this astructure of breath and meaning, put it this way: “Creativity is the currency here and the amount has no limit. In nearly 250 pages of full color art and incisive writing, MAINTENANT 18 separates Merch and State by forging a non-monetary vision which exposes strategies to achieve socio-political and economic equality and serves against the military-industrialist complex linking warfare with capitalism, shining a light through every crack for ‘we the people.'”
And they ain’t messin’ around in no sandbox here. Blow up the back cover image above and you see 246 global writers and artists who live and conspire in these pages. I am beyond proud that I’ve got a piece included in these pages, a kind of broadside of an older and particularly p’ed-off poem called “O Corporation, You Are Not Immortal” (and I mean it), which I’ve turned into a face tattoo for good ol’ David Koch. And that’s just one page out of 250 full of fireworks and ghee. So please consider picking up a copy, which you can find by clicking on any “Maintenant” in this blurb (including that one). Hell, it’s more than worth picking up the whole damned collection!
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Beacon Radiant
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I am mortally honored to have a piece in the upcoming (as in this month!) new anthology from great weather for MEDIA, Beacon Radiant. Their annual anths are always something to look forward to, and when I occasionally have some work therein, I’m just a little too excited (don’t ask). Somewhat to my surprise, for this issue they chose to accept a short story of mine that is either really scary or not at all (or both). It’s called “The Extraction”, and I won’t say any more.
This year’s book contains a total of sixty-two writers in various genres, all of whom I’d be willing to bet will kick your radiant beacon. I don’t know all of them (wish I did!), but I do know some, whose names are something like Youssef Alaoui, Austin Alexis, Kat Georges, Aimee Herman, Karen Hildebrand, Tobey Hiller, Taneesh Kaur, Ron Kolm, Jane LeCroy, Yuko Otomo, Puma Perl, Han Raschka, Danny Shot, and Francine Witte. The rest I’m gonna ask one by one on dates and I’ll let you know. Oh, and the anthology also includes an interview conducted by Lyndsey Ellis with novelist and Kimbilio founder David Haynes.
The pub date was July 22, and you can order this essential text for $22 right darn here. With all those 2’s, how can you go wrong? Plus I hear they’re going to be gluing red yarn to every single cover! (I don’t actually know that and I probably just got in trouble there.) In any case, do yourself a favor, click on through, and get Radiant!
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The San Franciscan #8
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One of my short memoir pieces about bike messenging has been picked up by The San Franciscan, a recent super-smart and pretty city journal focused on…I think you can guess. They’ve put out eight issues since 2019 and show no sign of slowing down. And for good reason!
In Issue #8, which you can order via that link, they’ve highlighted my story “The Day I Learned to Fly” about the time that I accidentally turned my bike into a light aircraft. It’s totally true I swear. It even comes with a full-page illustration by Nien-Ken Alec Lu, taken from a photo of myself from the era, of me careening through the San Francisco streets. How sizzling is that?
If you’re in San Francisco, you can find The San Franciscan in lots of bookstores plus Rainbow Grocery, The Silver Sprocket, and other places as well. In fact for your convenience, here’s a list of current retailers in the Bay Area and, yes, Seattle(!).
I’m thrilled to have this work represented by such a fab magazine. This issue includes work from 27 talented creatives based in and around the Bay Area, and features fiction, poetry, art, photography, nonfiction, profiles, personal essays, interviews, and even a locally-themed crossword (it’s kinda easy). And just look at that cover! (Click or tap for a larger image.) If you’re from SF, you can have a major easter egg hunt right there.
I’ve written seven of these harrowing and bizarro tales of bicycling precariously through 1980s San Francisco, of which this is the first to hit the streets. I’ve been sending others out to Bay Area (mostly SF) journals and such, so keep your eyes peeled (yuck!) for word of any further installments!
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Maintenant 17
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When I opened Maintenant 17, the latest of this international journal of dada writing and art, my head exploded. There’s just no other way to say it. The fine folks at Three Rooms Press, who’ve been compiling this annual sabot for guess how many years, have finally gone too far. This issue, channeling the theme of Peacefire and proffering the work of 254 artists from 34 countries on 6 continents, is actually too good for any sentient creature to peruse and still keep their DNA profile intact. This is a dangerous book that’s been rolling down the mountain for some time, inviting you to witness the destruction of Late Capitalism and the Eerie State. Please do!
I’m also excited to mention that this marks the first time that I’ve had published a piece of visual art in full-color repro. It’s a mix of text and imagery with oil pastel on black board, a bastard descendant of the blinklists that I’ve been making for decades (a few of which you can see on the Visual & Text Art page of this site). Oh, and it’s called Give Peace a Cheesesteak (for poet Joe Arboit). It’s on page 160, should you get lost in the extraordinary contents.
Check out the back cover image above to see everyone who’s in here. I’m listed right next to Mina Loy!
Three Rooms Press, which has been producing Maintenant since 2008, calls this a journal, but it’s more like a series of pageants, or more to the point, anti-pageants, glorious protest parades that fill the streets with punk and jazz and graffiti and wry ire, pausing before the grandstand only to burn flags, fling mirrors, and enact human realness. And what better time for it! Check it out.
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Colossus: Body
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I’m honored to have had a piece selected for the latest and powerful Colossus Press anthology, Colossus: Body. This fairly recent press has produced three anthologies in the last several years with intense and seminal work addressing urgent social issues—Home, An Anthology of Lives In and Out of Place; Freedom, An Anthology of Voices across the Carceral Wasteland; and now Body, An Anthology on the Sovereignty of the Self. I mean, Go Colossus! Even better, all proceeds from sales of the books go directly to targeted non-profits on the front lines of these issues. In case you’re curious, those non-profits are, respectively, Moms4Housing, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, and Keep our Clinics. You don’t need any further reason to pick up a copy of these books immediately.
In case you do need another reason, Oakland poet James Cagney calls Colossus: Body “the latest collection of scorching and beautiful writing focused on empathy, compassion and justice for the self. These poems and prose pieces address body autonomy, health, birth stories, and identity. They are armed and dangerous and worth teaching, meditating on and crying with again and again.”
Did I mention powerful?
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Fourteen Hills 29, Summer 2023
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Beat Not Beat
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How cool is this — “an anthology of California poets screwing on the Beat and post-Beat tradition…” Edited by Rich Ferguson, the current Beat Poet Laureate of California, and co-edited by Alexis Rhone Fancher, S.A. Griffin and Kim Shuck, this explosive tome was put out in the fall of 2022 by SoCal’s own Moon Tide Press. And it rocks.
The Moon Tide blurb says, “this dynamic anthology spans the postwar, atomic-bomb-obsessed American landscape to the here and now: a period when Beat poets, the Vortex, Baby Beats, and their progenitors inspired one another through cultural, political, and humorous means to create new forms of consciousness weaponizing pen and paper to enact mighty forms of lyrical rebellion.” Couldn’t a said it better.
In my usual contrary form, my piece falls into the more contemplative, Gary Snyder/earth-poetics side of the Beat tradition, that being the prose poem “3 Minutes”, which recounts the experience of exactly that.
There’s an absolute ton of amazing writers in this tome, and I can’t recommend it enough. Click on the Moon Tide link above to purchase it, and the title link to find out more.
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Arriving at a Shoreline
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I’m gosh-darned honored to have my recent piece of flash fiction “Shed” appear in the latest and mesmerizing anthology of international work from great weather for MEDIA press, Arriving at a Shoreline. This one contains poetry and short fiction from sixty-four writers plus interviews with Martín Espada and Jack Foley. And look at that beautiful cover! Worth the price in itself.
You can find a full list of the authors and more about the interviews by clicking on the title of the book above.
P.S. – “Shed” is a teensy bit scary, just so you know.
P.P.S. – Exciting update: great weather for MEDIA has nominated “Shed” for a Pushcart Prize. Thank you, gw4M! I ain’t never been nominated for nuthin before!
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Maintenant 16
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I’ve been spending time with Maintenant 16, the annual international journal of dada writing and art, and the only word I can think of that describes it consistently is thrilling. That is not an overstatement. There is so much amazing artwork and wordcraft in these 220 pages, of so many kinds, that each page literally leaps out at you as a surprise. I’m so proud to have a page in it dedicated to a piece called “Action Time” that I wrote specifically for this issue, the theme of which is Nyet Zero. I’d been wanting to write for some time about how I hear combustion engines as a series of explosions, which is exactly what they are. That fit nicely here into a description of a “sideshow”, a common West Coast street event in which suped-up cars are revved to spin out of control in a crowded intersection, and which I can often hear from my apartment in Oakland late at night.
Back to the journal: I actually find my heart racing as I turn the pages, which contain work from 235 creators from twenty-seven countries on, get this, ALL SEVEN CONTINENTS on the planet. How many journals can claim that, while pouring forth so much relevance? You can see a list of everyone included on the book page (linked above), along with a tip-of-the-iceberg-few samples of the artwork.
Here’s a PAGE OF CONTRIBUTOR SELFIES WITH THE BOOK, which Maintenant requests upon receipt. I’m including because they’re often quite amusing and just plain interesting.
Three Rooms Press, which has been producing Maintenant since 2008, calls this a journal, but it’s more like a series of pageants, or more to the point, anti-pageants, glorious protest parades that fill the streets with punk and jazz and graffiti and wry ire, pausing before the grandstand only to burn flags, fling mirrors, and enact human realness. And what better time for it! Check it out.
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Cultural Daily (May 7, 2022)
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I’m thrilled to have a couple poems from my recent book Unit of Agency published on Cultural Daily, the wide-ranging online journal of literature and the arts that’s been “a free platform for independent voices” since 2011. How awesome is that? The pieces, in case you haven’t caught them, are “Military Husband Jaw Sonnet” and “We Sing and Rise”, which you can read here by clicking on the dated title above.
Even better (if anything could be), they also posted a sweet review of Unit of Agency by John Brantingham, which you can read by clicking on that very link. Thank you, John, for your time and discernment! John Brantingham, btw, is Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park’s first poet laureate and an editor for
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Arbella, Edition 11
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How cool is this – a lit zine starts in the 80’s and has ten issues into the 00’s (I think), then goes dormant. A common tale, unless it suddenly erupts a decade or two later. Did I say volcano? I meant volcano.
Seriously, though, a lot of work went into this one, which is seriously terrific. I was asked by Beth Borrus, an old poetry pal, for a piece or two a couple of years ago. I actually forgot (well, covid did), then found this in my mail in December, containing a couple of my ecstatic odes, “Sleep” and “Waking”. How excellent! Thank you, Beth Borrus for thinking of me. You continue to rock.
There are 110 pages of great stuff in here, including various other pals much like (perhaps actually) Kimi Sugioka, Liz Belile, Katie Yates, Thad Rutkowski, Steve Dalachinsky (blessings), Brenda Coultas, Danny Shot, Boni Joi, Clint Frakes, to name just a few. Over forty writers and a lot of rad photos by Saul Leiter. It is so worth checking out, available currently on Amazon in either paperback or kindle (link in the title above).
Because I’m excited about this, here’s the Amazon descript as well, which lists a few more word-fabbers: “Arbella started in the late 1980s in New Brunswick, NJ by graduate school drop outs Tom Obrzut and Anthony George. The current issue, co-edited by Beth Borrus, is an “eclectic” mosh pit of street poetry, prose, and guerilla photography. We think we’ve put out 11 issues over the past 30 years, but this one is the best. Featuring photographs by the iconic Saul Leiter, and the unique visual perspectives of Andrew Daddio, Don Catena, and Dave Alexander. Arbella features the work of award winning poet Brenda Coultis, Kimi Soguoka, poet laureate of Almeda, California; and indie publishing legend Dave Roskos, The magazine also includes John Richey, of Lunar Bear Ensemble/ Machine Gun fame, jazz poet Steve Dalachinsky, as well as Ken Greenley, Ronna Lebo, and Boni Joi. Here it is, the long road filled with meditation and roaring.” Yay!
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Maintenant 15
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I’m thrilled to have a cute little fable on the hazards of capitalism titled “A Fable” in Maintenant 15, the pre-eminent Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing & Art. Should you purchase a copy to read my piece? Of course! But be warned, you’ll find yourself swimming in beauty. This issue contains a stunning array of 239 artists, writers, musicians, philosophers, performance artists unabashedly representing the counter-mind and culture of the moment. Rather than trying to list some, I’ve included an image of the back cover above, which lists them all. The front cover, also above, features art by renowned Cuban American artist Edel Rodriguez. This year’s theme or springboard was: Humanity, the Re-boot, and you will find a tsunami of just that – humanity, re-‘s, boots, and about anything else you can imagine and a good bit beyond, illuminating this earthly moment.
Three Rooms Press, which has been producing Maintenant since 2008, calls this a journal, but it’s more like a series of pageants, or more to the point, anti-pageants, glorious protest parades that fill the streets with punk and jazz and graffiti and wry ire, pausing before the grandstand only to burn flags, fling mirrors, and enact human realness. Check it out.
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Pedestrian #2
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I’m jubilant to have the confidence of the folks at Pedestrian Press, who’ve included my recent poem “Samara Samsara” in Pedestrian #2. Featured in this issue is new writing by Glen Armstrong, Ariel Beller, Jennifer Blowdryer, Cassandra Dallett, Natasha Dennerstein, Giavanna Ortiz de Candia, J de Salvo, Jasper Ezekiel, Lee Foust, myself, Peggy Morrison, Alexandra Naughton, Linda Ravenswood, William Taylor Jr., and Gerald Yelle. Topping that are a selection of really terrific photographs by Suspicious Pedestrian. (I haven’t been able to get them to say who that is, and I’ll let you know if they decide to tell.) I’ve included just a few of them above, and definitely click through to check out the rest. Oh, and the words!
Brought to you by most of the same humans who purveyed the terrific Oakland Review (the real one, from Oakland, not that Carnegie-Mellon simulacrum :P) and the Bicycle Review, both of which are now sadly offline. Hoping you kidz have the html’s around somewhere!
2023 addendum: Sadly with the passing of founder and editor J deSalvo in 2021, the electricity has gone out. Ped Press along with his previous Bicycle Press both live on through extant printed copies. J pushed through a challenged existence to do a great deal for the SF Bay Area literary scene, and his passing left an empty shoe on our pavement that doesn’t go away. You can listen to an elegy that I wrote for him here. Rock on, J!
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Escape Wheel
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Super pleased to have a recent pithy quatrain in great weather for MEDIA‘s 2020 lit anthology Escape Wheel. It’s in the honorable company of work by sixty-two other writers, including Jennifer Blowdryer, Lisa Conway, Cathyann Cusimano, Rich Ferguson, Vanessa Chica Ferreira, Rosie Garland, Bob Heman, Ciarán Hodgers, Heikki Huotari , Marina Kazakova, Lisa Kee-Hamasaki, Mary Mackey, Roberto Mendoza-Ayala, J. Miller, Richard Modiano, K.R. Morrison, Karen Neuberg, Puma Perl, Gayle Richardson, Laura Esther Sciortino, Claudia Serea, Yan Sham-Shackleton, Joolz Sparkes, Mercury-Marvin Sunderland, Deborah Torr, Zev Torres, Gina Williams, John Sibley Williams, and Roddy Williams (so Williamsy!), plus an interview with Cornelius Eady. Among many others.
These annual anthologies, now in their eighth year, have proven to provide a consistently impactful view to new and established wordsmiths alike, and never fail to inspire. Recommended reading for every mind.
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Maintenant 14
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Excited to have my poem “Gluten-Free Betsy Ross Doll” included in Maintenant 14, the pre-eminent Journal of Contemporary Dada Writing & Art. This issue contains a total of 260 artists, writers, and others , near as I can count. The theme this year is “UN-SUSTAIN-A-BULL-SH*T”, and here’s what the folks at Three Rooms Press have to say about it.
“Maintenant 14 creators turn poetry and art into weapons that expose, confront, and lambast policies that have taken the planet to tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and the risk of social and ecological collapse…. Each page in this journal is a physical conviction. Each spread relates an intimate correspondence. The entire volume is a familial tree of leaves and shapes and buds of thoughts to be. Our theme might be UN-SUSTAIN-A-BULL-SH*T, but here as one soul, the moment is sustainable.”
Three Rooms Press, which has been producing Maintenant since 2008, calls this a journal, but it’s more like a series of pageants, or more to the point, anti-pageants, glorious protest parades that fill the streets with punk and jazz and graffiti and wry ire, pausing before the grandstand only to burn flags, fling mirrors, and enact human realness. Check it out.
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The Marsh Hawk Review, Spring 2020
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One of my favorite poems from the past few years, “Breakfast”, appears in the Spring 2020 issue of The Marsh Hawk Review, online journal for Marsh Hawk Press. Yay! This poem is part of a yet-unpublished chapbook titled Every Day: Ecstatic Odes, which contains, unsurprisingly, a collection of odes to everyday things.
This issue is edited by Bay Area poet and novelist Mary Mackey.
It includes a generous 37 contributors including Maxine Hong Kingston, Indigo Moor, Marge Piercy, Rafael Jesús González, Andrena Zawinski, Puma Perl, Wil Gibson, Jane Ormerod, Joan Gelfand, and Dennis Nurkse, to name a few.
The journal comes in the form of a 80-page downloadable pdf. Just click on the title above, or here, to find it.
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Mantid Mania #7, Fall 2019
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From the beautifully twisted mind of Mike Smith, founder of Environmental Encroachment (among other wonders), came to the Earth eight issues of Mantid Mania, a zine devoted entirely to the worship of the praying mantis. Of course! I am humbled to have my poem “Classification”, which I wrote specifically for the zine, included in issue #7. I’ve included a pic of the full cover here because it’s just so it. Click and be mantided! As far as I know there are no extant copies of this zine about, though you can find a couple of ecstatic covers on the website for Quimby’s , Chicago’s beloved bookstore, which everyone should know about anyway. And while I have your attention, check out EE’s Store page to see some really cool and unusual shit.
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riverbabble 35, Summer 2019
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I’m pleased as rain to have my poem “Rain” included in the recent issue of riverbabble, from the folks at Pandemonium Press. This poem is part of a yet-unpublished chapbook titled Every Day: Ecstatic Odes, which contains, unsurprisingly, a collection of odes to everyday things.
The issue includes the work of 29 revved and ready writers including the likes of Edward Mycue, Glenn Ingersoll, Grace Marie Grafton, Jeannette DesBoine, and Yuan Changming. I’m honored to have my work included with that of so many lightbult-over-head type peops, and generally Bay Area luminaries.
It’s worth noting that Pandemonium Press also publishes two other online journals, Doorknobs & Bodypaint and Day w/o Art, along with their monthly reading series on the first Wednesday at The Octopus Literary Salon in Uptown Oakland. Go Pandemonium!
2023 addendum: Sadly between the passing of the fabulous and endlessly energetic Leila Rae in 2020 and the ongoing pandemic, Pandemonium Press and its publications both online and in print have ceased. All treasures lost to time.
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Naked Bulb 2018 Anthology
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I’m very happy to have a piece included in the recent Naked Bulb Anthology 2018 by Naked Bulb Press. And not just any piece – they have bravely chosen my flash fiction piece “Validation”, which scared off everyone else. Naked Bulb is brave and wise. Maybe it’ll scare off you! But I hope not, since the volume also contains sixteen of my favorite East Bay-affiliated scribblers, all scribbling at their best. Grab a cop’ and grin for yourself!
The press has grown out of the Naked Bulb reading series, which has been running for nine years mostly in the East Oakland backyard of Missy Church, who has also founded the press in the last couple of years. Kudos, Missy, on the beautiful books, and thanks for all your time.
The anthology is named for the previous year, when the work included was read at the series. It is not currently listed on the press’ site, so the best way to get one is to contact Missy through the site, and ask her to send ya one posthaste.
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Poetry Flash (January 2019)
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Honored to have a tribute to the late, beyond-great Julia Vinograd published in the venerable SF Bay Area literary institution Poetry Flash, titled “Postscript for Julia Vinograd“. Click on the title to read it. As many know, Julia was a Bay Area icon for decades, hanging on the Berkeley streets blowing bubbles (a.k.a., ahem, The Bubble Lady), lounging in the Cafe Med on Telegraph Ave writing her ass off, or haunting many a many a reading around the Bay for over fifty years, gracing us all with her spoken work and letting the poets know what’s what. Julia passed on December 5, 2018, leaving us all a little befuddled as to what to do next. ‘Nuff said, and here’s some more said:
Richard Silberg’s tribute in the same issue of P.Flash, “Flying with ‘Julia’ Poems: Julia Vinograd (1943-2018)”
Tom Dalzell’s moving obituary and tribute in Berkeleyside, the day after Julia died
Bruce Isaacson’s obituary in East Bay Express
Sam Whiting’s obituary in the SF Chronicle
Boyce Buchanan’s obituary in The Daily Californian
Peter Hegarty’s obituary in The Mercury News
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Bucky Sinister’s wonderfully frank and snarky tribute at medium.com
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Nomadic Journal: Wonder
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I’m pleased as punch to have a piece in the new and long-anticipated anthology from Nomadic Press, Nomadic Journal: Wonder. This one has a sterling collection of work from 28 writers across the U.S., including Alisa Golden, Betsy Parker, Brendan Walsh, Christine No, Christopher Snethen, Daniel Shapiro, J de Salvo, Jennifer L. Knox, John Greenhause, Keith Donnell, Kimo Reder, Maggie Hellwig, Maria Ximena Pineda, Meriwether Clarke, Michael Salcman, Patrick Trotti, Petra Kuppers, Reilly Nolan, Rohi Jiwani, Shane Joaquin Jiminez, Sheila Squillante and Paul Bilger, Simon Perchik, Thomas Ziemer, Tina Lawson, Xan Roberti, and myself, plus artwork by the late José Nava and photographs by Jesse Brouns. In other words, it looks terrific.
My piece definitely represents Oakland, being a brief poetric diatribe on the nature of gentrification called “The Oakland Sky”. Though Oakland-specific in detail, it addresses a pressing social dilemma common to many cities across the United States and beyond. Perhaps you’ve even seen it in your city!
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Suitcase of Chrysanthemums
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I’m honored to have my fave Dada poem “39 Lashes” included in Suitcase of Chrysanthemums, the 2018 anthology of poetry, fiction, and other word and art things by great weather for MEDIA press. Their anthologies are always gorgeous, not just visually (obviously, look at that cover! – by Jodi Lynn Concepcion, if you’re curious), but viscerally as well. These folks find pieces that change you, simple as that. This one contains work by seventy-six (76!) writers, including Joel Allegretti, Zoë Christopher, Cathyann Cusimano, Richard Fein, Rich Ferguson, John S. Hall, Kit Kennedy, Jane LeCroy, Mary Mackey, Rick Mullin, Puma Perl, Eréndira Ramírez-Ortega, Yan Sham-Shackleton, William Taylor Jr, Zev Torres, Alexandra van de Kamp, and John Sibley Williams, among many others. Plus, no shit, an interview with actor/director Sonja Sohn (The Wire, The Chi, Baltimore Rising). Max cool.
This poem, by the way, was written for the Dada World’s Fair in San Francisco, and read at the opening event on November 1, 2016 at City Lights Books, where the proprietor, a certain Mr. Ferlinghetti, seemed quite displeased at my not so oblique suggestion that it’d be a good place to start a fire, especially when I ignited a lighter at the podium with an infernal grin. Not much of a sense of humor there, I guess.
Just wanna add that the great weather folks have been very supportive of my work, and I want to thank them for that from the bottom of my heart. Thanks, weatherfolk!
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riverbabble 33, Summer 2018 Bloomsday issue
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Thrilled to have my flash prose piece “Earth Punk” included in the recent issue of riverbabble, from the folks at Pandemonium Press.
The issue includes the work of 29 revved and ready writers including the likes of Rafael Jesús González, Lucille Lang Day, Edward Mycue, Jeannette DesBoine, Grace Marie Grafton, Bruce Bagnell, and Jon Sindell. I’m honored to have my work included with that of so many lightbult-over-head type peops, and generally Bay Area luminaries.
It’s worth noting that Pandemonium Press also publishes two other online journals, Doorknobs & Bodypaint and Day w/o Art, both of which are very much worth checking out, along with their monthly reading series on the first Wednesday at The Octopus Literary Salon in Uptown Oakland. Go Pandemonium!
2023 addendum: Sadly between the passing of the fabulous and endlessly energetic Leila Rae in 2020 and the ongoing pandemic, Pandemonium Press and its publications both online and in print have ceased. All treasures lost to time.
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Naked Bulb 2017 Anthology
Guess what, one of my very favorite post breakup poems is featured in the Naked Bulb Anthology 2017 by Naked Bulb Press. I want it to be a surprise so that you’ll run and get one for your very own. It features twenty of the East Bay’s finest wort-smithies, or grinders of syllables, if you will, and I’m honored to be among them, both on page and in voice. The rumors are true – these folks do rock! And occasionally shape them into words and throw them.
The press has grown out of the Naked Bulb reading series, which has been running for eight years mostly in the East Oakland backyard of Missy Church, who has also founded the press in the last couple of years. Kudos, Missy, on the beautiful books, and thanks for all your time.
The anthology is named for the previous year, when the work included was read at the series. It is not currently listed on the press’ site, so the best way to get one is to contact Missy through the site, and ask her to send ya one posthaste.
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Chronogram 5/18 (vol. 22, no. 13)
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I was recently passing through Woodstock, NY (yes, that Woodstock), where I used to hang and write and generally escape from NYC, and had the chance to stop by the monthly Woodstock Poetry Society Reading, hosted by old friend and colleague (not to mention fabulous poet and actor) Phillip X. Levine. Read a few pieces from Sudden Windows, my 2016 book of flash prose, which I’d not had a chance to let loose in that area, and Phillip was very taken with them and asked if he could publish one in the Chronogram, a prolific Hudson Valley weekly. I put up a fight, of course (haha), but he ended up convincing me, and so the piece referred to as “At the heart of this month” appeared on the poetry page in the May, 2018 issue. Thank you, Phillip! You are a gentleman amongst gentlemen.
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Naked Bulb Summer 2016 Anthology
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I’m proud to have the very first piece in the very first anthology by Naked Bulb Press. The press has grown out of the Naked Bulb reading series, which has been running for seven years mostly in the East Oakland backyard of Missy Church, impresario and host extraordinaire. My poem, entitled “Cannibalism”, is only five lines long, but it’s a true story and it’s one of my fave poems ever. AND it’s followed by work by twenty-two of the best SF Bay Area writers working (and drinking beer in backyards) today.
The title, by the way, refers to the season of the reading series from which the writers were chosen, though it’s actually been released in April of 2017. It’s not listed on the site yet (it’s just that fresh), but you should be able to get a copy by writing to Missy Church via the site (look under About). And if you wanna be that fresh, I highly recommend that you do.
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Poetry Expressed, vol. 2, Spring 2017
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Very happy to have my poem “remember:” included in the second volume of Poetry Expressed, the annual online journal by the producers of Berkeley’s long-running weekly reading series, Poetry Express. There’s terrific work in here by myself and ten other poets, both old-timers and new-comers, including Jan Steckel, David Zeltzer, Adele Mendelson, Jocelyn Hernandez, and Elizabeth Alford. You can get to by simply clicking here on the title above. And for a short time only, you can score yourself a print copy for just a few dollars plus postage, by sending them a message on their Facebook page.
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The Marsh Hawk Review, Spring 2017
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Yay! Bay Area poet and novelist Mary Mackey has chosen a couple of my pieces for the Spring 2017 issue of The Marsh Hawk Review, online journal for Marsh Hawk Press. Thank you, Mary! That’s a cherry pie in my day.
The issue includes 33 amazing contributors including Maxine Hong Kingston, Rafael Jesús Gonzalez, Marge Piercy, Wil Gibson,Jane Ormerod, Joan Gelfand, and, uh, myself.
I’m honored to have two pieces in this fine collection: “Destiny”, one of my Flowers of Oakland series that prognosticates the triumph of flowering vines over mankind, and “3 Minutes”, a prose poem designed to exemplify three minutes of time, and which can be read in three minutes to the second. Enjoy!
The journal comes in the form of a 90-page downloadable pdf. Just click on the title above, or here, to find it.
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Full of Crow: Winter 2017 Fiction
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I’m pleased as blackbird pie to have a piece included in the prestigious and long-running online lit journal Full of Crow. It’s an older piece of short fiction titled “The Svelte Stilletos of a Frozen Stillicide” (from the opening poem of Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov), and I’m especially pied to have it placed where more than a dozen folks might read it. Full of Crow graciously accepted it knowing it’d been in a few photocopied zines and equally unobtainable journals. I’m particularly proud of the wordplay in this one, so if you haven’t seen it, please click on through for a languagey tickle, and maybe a little something else.
2023 addendum: Unfortunately after many years and thousands of published pieces, Full of Crow has had to shut its virtual doors. Give a caw for Crow!
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Oakland Review #4 and Pedestrian Press Poem of the Week
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Honored to have my recent poem “Intention” chosen for publication in Oakland Review #4, along with a slew of incredible work by current East Bay writers.
Pedestrian Press, who publishes the Review, liked the poem so much that they selected it for their Poem of the Week page. Glad am I to hear that poems stay on said page forever (or until the electricity goes out).
Take a gander at the poem and decide if it has a happy ending.
2023 addendum: Sadly with the passing of founder and editor J deSalvo in 2021, the electricity has gone out. Ped Press along with his previous Bicycle Press both live on through extant printed copies. J pushed through a challenged existence to do a great deal for the SF Bay Area literary scene, and his passing left an empty shoe on our pavement that doesn’t go away. You can listen to an elegy that I wrote for him here. Rock on, J!
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The Careless Embrace of the Boneshaker
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I’m honored to have my Brooklyn narrative poem “Bootism” included in the new anthology by great weather for MEDIA press, The Careless Embrace of the Boneshaker. The poem is a simple and not so simple walking poem that explores the tensions that make Brooklyn both so difficult and so beautiful, and a gamut of my own inner tensions as well. (I’m not sure what they make me.) It ponders the action of walking and provides a mini-travelogue, fifteen years young now but still much the same, I think, of a jaunt through Fort Greene up to Prospect Park and back. In glorious first person and everything.
The Careless Embrace of the Boneshaker is a fearless and dynamic collection of contemporary poetry and short fiction by seventy-six established and emerging writers. It also features an interview with musician and poet Thurston Moore.
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HIV Here + Now
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HIV Here + Now is an amazing project instigated by poet, educator, and activist Michael Broder. He and his team posted a poem or writer per day for 366 days – for an entire year – as a countdown to 35 years of AIDS on June 5, 2016. It just finished, and is a stunning and monumental anthology.
I’m extremely proud to have a piece in there as Poem #340, which appeared on May 9, 2016.
Now they’re working on a print anthology, due out whenever it’s damn well ready. But the online anth is an impressive and moving compilation, unique and scope and passion, and I strongly recommend checking it out.
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Dryland, Winter 2016, Issue 3
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Got a piece in the third issue of Dryland, an online (mostly) lit+art zine focused on L.A. – yay! Sent some stuff because it looked pretty fierce. But far be if from me to describe this rag, so here’s what they say about themself:
“The wasteland T.S. Eliot talked about is over…Southern California is in a drought… We’re not looking for pretty little words. We’re looking for words that drown out the chitter-chatter, the noise, the empty-spells, the NOISE. Colors, textures, melodies, cries. Los Angeles land of all skin colors and all classes. We’re looking for Los Angeles. Waste…decay…rebirth and all.”
Appealing, right? So I sent them a bit of my flash prose, and they selected a piece entitled “On the eve of Obama’s re-election”. Filed it under poetry though it could be flash non-fic as well. It could be anything. But L.A. cannot. L.A. can only be L.A. Thanks, guys!
2023 addendum: In 2019 Dryland was renamed as sin cesar (great name!) and sadly seem to have purged all of their previous archives. Totally worth checking out in their new form, they decribe themselves as “an independent print literary journal from South Central Los Angeles established in 2015. We seek to publish the best in Black and Brown poetry, fiction, and non-fiction from established, emerging, and never-before-published writers around the world.”
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Oakland Review 2
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I’m proud to have not one, not two, but five poems chosen for inclusion in the second issue of Oakland Review, the new journal bursting with the fire of the current East Bay writing scene. Nosethumbs to you, West Bay (formerly known as San Francisco)! You can find my recent 57-line sonnet, “Military Husband Jaw Sonnet”, my homage to poet MK Chavez, and all three of my recent series The Flowers of Oakland (all three so far, that is), along with the gorgeous and incendiary work of 21 other poet/prose/fiction writers and burning minds.
Okay, I can’t resist: here they are: Hannah Allen, John Bennett, Mk Chavez, Cassandra Dallet, Aimee DeLong, Lee Foust, Bill Gainer, Hollie Hardy, Nikolas Karavatos, Joel Landmine, Richard Loranger (that’s me), Aurelia Lorca, Rick Lupert, Garrett Murphy, Alexandra Naughton, Marc Olmsted, BC Petrakos, William Taylor, Jr., Scott Wannberg, Amos White, Arisa White, and Jezebel Delilah X. With art by Don Morey.
It’s published by Pedestrian Press, out of the real Oakland, so don’t confuse it with The Oakland Review, which inexplicably comes out of Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh.
This book is lava! So put on your hotmits, click on the link above, and throw a mere $13 into the flames, the flames that make the world anew.
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Overthrowing Capitalism Volume 2: Beyond Endless War, Racist Police, Sexist Elites
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I’m very, very pleased to have one of my fave political poems included in the second anthology by the Revolutionary Poets Brigade of San Francisco, entitled (you guessed it) Overthrowing Capitalism Volume 2: Beyond Endless War, Racist Police, Sexist Elites. Yay!
The RPG believes, among other things, that “a better world is possible only through taking language back from those who have hijacked it in the interested of perpetuating the regime of violent elites” (from their beautiful preface). Rock on, RPG.
And example of that attempt might just reside in my poem, “O Corporation, You Are Not Immortal”, a rather robust curse poem referring to the fact that in the U.S., legally corporations are “potentially immortal entities,” as stated by Chief Justice John Marshall in 1819. Sounds like a good reason to curse to me! You can hear me do a fine reading of this piece one minute into this YouTube video.
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The Brownstone Poets: 2015
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This is a sweet little anthology put out every year by Patricia Carragon, maven of the Brownstone Poets reading series in Brooklyn. The series is known for its inclusiveness, presenting everything from simple everyday verse to the sliciest of the cutting edge. Check out that snazzy cover pic!
I’m pleased to have a pleasant sculpted poem included in this years anth, “Lying in dark in Bklyn”, which I wrote while doing just that while I was living there in the early oughts. If you do catch a copy somewhere, note that the final word has been accidentally placed on its own line, and is meant to be continued on the previous line to the right. Ah, the foibles of printing…
This issue contains a total of 53 very eclectic authors, along with tributes to the recently departed and much missed New York poets Bob Hart and Brant Lyon. I’m not sure how to get a copy, but you could try sending them a message on their Facebook page.
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Out of Our, Issue 17
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I have a poem in the 17th and VERY LAST issue of the San Francisco literary zine Out of Our. The zine has been edited and published tirelessly since 2009 by Sarah Page and Steven Gray.
Needless to say, I’m excited!
They’ve graciously included “Mammalian Dilemma,” a sexy sonnet that gets at the heart (or perhaps groin) of my philosophy (or perhaps perversity).
Releasing on December 9, 2014, at The Emerald Tablet in SF. I’ll be reading there along with a shiny pile of other poets.
Out of Our LIVES!
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I Let Go of the Stars in My Hand
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One of my ecstatic odes has found its first publication in the new anthology by great weather for MEDIA press, I Let Go of the Stars in My Hand. That gorgeous title and front cover, btw, come from an equally pleasing graphic therein by awesome Swedish illustrator Janne Karlsson entitled “Stars”.
The anthology proffers a fearless, dynamic collection of contemporary poetry and short fiction by sixty-six established and emerging writers from across the United States and well beyond, and an exclusive new interview with legendary poet and activist John Sinclair.
So now you can read in real print and potentially even parse out “The Food in My Beard”, my somewhat dense and impassioned ode to the food chain, and my part in it. And you get a brain-ton of amazing accompanying pieces as well!
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London Grip – New Poetry Summer 2014
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I’m honored to have a couple of pieces selected for the Summer 2014 New Poetry Issue of the international online cultural magazine, London Grip. This fab zine posts a broad range of material weekly, including reviews of books, theater, art, and music, all kinds of cultural orgs and events, and lots of new works, including a quarterly issue of new poetry edited by Michael Bartholemew-Biggs.
The current issue contains work by myself and 15 other poets from the U.K. and U.S. My pieces are two of the ecstatic odes, “Laundry” and “Venetian Blinds”, in publication for the first time.
You can click here to check out the issue, and then on each writer’s name to see their work, or simply scroll down the page. You’ll find mine at the top just below the editor’s note – a double-honor!
And check out that logo, featuring a piece by none other than Banksy.
Enjoy!
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The Marsh Hawk Review, Spring 2014
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I’m very pleased to have a piece in the Spring 2014 issue of The Marsh Hawk Review, online journal for Marsh Hawk Press.
This issue is edited by Bay Area poet and novelist Mary Mackey.
It includes 20 fab contributors including Marge Piercy, Al Young, Dennis Nurkse, Jane Ormerod, Joan Gelfand, and, uh, myself.
Mary has graciously chosen to print “Upon Reading Something”, a poem I wrote in response to reading the first part of Ed Dorn‘s The Gunslinger, and more especially the intro by Marjorie Perloff. So now you know.
The journal comes in the form of a 40-page downloadable pdf. Just click on the title above, or here, to find it.
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It’s Animal but Merciful
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I’m proud to have work in the first anthology by great weather for MEDIA press, It’s Animal but Merciful.
Created by former editors of Uphook Press, great weather is dedicated to publishing new poetry, prose, and mixed genre and media that highlight the “unpredictable, the bright, the dark, and the innovative…”
Contributors include fifty-five poets and fiction writers from around the U.S. as well as Botswana, the Philippines, Denmark, and Canada.
The editors have decided in their wisdom to include “Mud Song” in their maiden publication. How dirty! You can find a pretty decent reading of it on the Performance page of this site.
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The Tower Journal, vol. 5, #1
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The Tower Journal, an online magazine (or “portal”, as they proclaim) for poetry and prose, features an extensive Webfestschrift to the life and work of West Coast poet Jack Foley in their Fall 2012 edition.
Included in the Festschrift are five collaborations that I recently did with Jack, some of which have appeared on the Fresh Words page of this site.
Click here to go the the main page of the Webfestschrift, and look toward the bottom of the left column under “Jack Foley Poetry” for our work (and that of many others!).
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Esque #3: Revolutionesque
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The third installment of this groundbreaking hyperJournal contains work by 108 poets, each focused on revolution in one sense or another.
For each issue, editors Amy King & Ana Božičević ask poets to respond to or revel in specific themes or prompts. Issue #1 covers “oetry” and “ifesto”. Issue #2 allows you, the reader, to decide what it is you’re reading (and submit your impressions). And Issue #3, with timely courtesy, delves into Revolution in all and any form (or lack thereof).
They’ve been kind enough to include two of my pieces in the recent issue, “We Have to Become Human” and “I Want A Poetry”. You can find my page here.
2023 addendum: Actually you can’t find the page there, as the zine was taken down a few years ago and I didn’t save an html copy. Wisps, wisps, wisps we are!
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Divining Divas: 100 Gay Men on Their Muses
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Editor Michael Montlack has assembled an anthology of a hundred gay poets—award winners and fresh voices—in thrall with female icons throughout the ages ranging from Gloria Swansonto Mary J, Blige, from Edith Piaf to Joni Mitchell, Bette Midler to Lady Gaga. These are not merely appreciations of the gorgeous and daring but poems that are confessional to bittersweet to witty.
My piece, entitled “Ripley”, pays heated homage to Ellen Ripley, heroine of the Alien film series.
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One Ded Cow, v.1
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The first issue of this journal, which boasts the most colorful cover in the history of poetics (several readers have required hospitalization after prolonged viewing), proffers wild new work from a selection of 26 poets from around the U.S. For their debut, the editors insisted on reprinting a selection of Hello poems, which blend nicely into the melee.
Click on the cover to see a larger view in all its glory (but have some Xanax near at hand).
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Anthologies by Uphook Press
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Uphook Press specializes in work by poets and spoken word artists who write for both page and stage. I have work in two of their recent anthologies, hell strung and crooked and you say. say.
hell strung and crooked features the work of 41 poets, along with interviews with Mark Doty and Claus Ankersen.
you say. say.: Twenty-nine poets write the gamut from Starbucks to whale walkers, chalk outlines to honeymooning, cranky operettas to the ping of a microwave signaling the end.
2023 update: sadly Uphook Press is no more, but you might still be able to get copies of these groundbreaking anthologies through the Evil Empire (I mean Amazon) by clicking on the titles, and maybe even elsewhere online.
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Sparring with Beatnik Ghosts: Anthologies 2 & 5
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Sparring with Beatnik Ghosts is a stunning series of readings started by poet Daniel Yaryan in August, 2008, when they gathered a dozen poets along with musicians and a multitude of open mic’ers and listeners for a five and a half hour reading that kicked living ass in the ancient basement of Li Po bar in Chinatown, San Francisco. The series has expanded to 34 epic readings (as of April 2012) ranging from SF to Los Angeles, numerous anthologies and recordings, and establishment of the recent Santa Cruz Poetry Festival.
I read in “Rounds” 1 and 9, and have work in the second and fifth anthologies.
Their website has since disappeared, but you can find these anthologies and a bit more on the Sparring with Beatnik Ghosts page on Amazon.
You can also watch my reading from Round 9 at the Beat Museum on my Performance page.
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Correspondence #1, #2, & #3
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The Corresponding Society, a small press organized by a diverse community of young writers in Brooklyn, NY, has put out a variety of publications including three issues of the journal Correspondence, each of which features some of my work.
You can also read an article about my work by Lonely Christopher, entitled Richard Loranger, Mammal of Verse, on their press blog.
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These issues are all out of print, but I might have one or two around if you ask.
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Beyond the Rift: Poets of the Palisades
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You’ll find a piece of mine in this terrific compilation that represents a decade of poets featured at the North Jersey Literary Series, the liveliest poetry venue on the west side of the Hudson. Centered around the long-running series curated by Paul Nash and Denise Laneve at The Classic Quiche Cafe in Teaneck, this anthology shows just how fruitful their labors have been.
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CLWN WR 42 & 45
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I’ve had work in a few of Bob Heman’s long-running flash journal for flash poetry and flash fiction, CLWN WR (formerly Clown War). And yes it’s really that flashy, though still produced and distributed guerilla-style with 
photocopies flung from the tops of Manhattan skyscrapers, so it can be a little hard to find if you’re not standing right there. Or if you’re not amidst the ever-roiling NYC poetry scene. But if you want to find out more, and possibly check out an issue or two (they’re generally a diminutive 4.25 x 5.5″, and they read in a flash – haha), I suggest trying the email on their website’s Submissions page.
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