Happy Holidays and New Year

Poetry seems to be the theme of 2026 so far…in January, Silly Goose Press will be publishing a steamy poem of mine, and in February Up the Staircase Quarterly will publish a poem about not giving up…or maybe it’s about giving up. Or both. I haven’t decided.

I never know what my poems are about. They are evocative, not necessarily meaningful. If that makes sense. Don’t know. I never fancied myself a poet. Never fancied myself a writer. Even though I excelled at writing in school. I once used the words “bountiful cornucopia” as a metaphor in a poem in 10th grade…I included it as a joke because it was so over the top and stupid. I was trying to be funny. My teacher raved about it. It embarrassed me and I didn’t do much creative writing for a while after that.

Thanks to everyone who gets my jokes.

Stories still seeking homes:

“Into the Black” – about 10,000 words. Slipstream horror about a drifter named Forces of Nature who is written into a hack sci-fi novelist’s world in which he partners with an alien space frog queen to save their planet, Amphibar. (MEANT TO BE STUPID.)

“We Will Find Each Other Again” – Florida gothic ghost story about a displaced woman who finds her (literal) forever home in a Withlacoochee BP service station restroom.

“I Like Being Far Away” – A joke Craigslist personal ad brings two lonely people together. They bond over a mutual enjoyment of hate-watching QVC.

“To Keep” – A sort of “Get Out” type of story in which a young white woman learns that her ancestors kept an enslaved girl trapped working on their family farm after emancipation. In her parallel modern day life, the cycle insidiously continues. No lessons learned, sorry. I don’t have much hope for my people I suppose.

…and some flash and a ton more poems.