There’s good beach reading and there’s bad beach reading. I found a copy of John Grisham’s The Appeal at a beach condo this year and elected to read it, having never heard about it before. While Grisham’s legal thrillers aren’t the most literary around, you can always count on them to be well researched and executed. This is no less true of his sprawling 2008 novel.
Blog on Vacation
The blog, like myself, has taken a vacation. See you in two weeks!
New Story in The Coachella Review
Hey readers, do you like murder mysteries? Well, I was totally into them before they were big.
Here’s a murder mystery that’s so obscure you’ve probably never heard of it.
You should check out “It Was The Hipster Who Done It,” my latest short story appearing in The Coachella Review. I mean, come on, it’s the perfect place for such a story to appear.
You can find it here.
See if you can solve the mystery. Not that I wanna dragoon you into it.
New Poem in North Dakota Quarterly
My latest poem, “Behold,” is out now in the latest issue of North Dakota Quarterly!
You can go here to either order a print copy or check it out for free!
Ozark is a Rural, Modern Gatsby
I think the creators of the Netflix hit show Ozark borrowed from a famous hundred-year-old novel.
I realized this as I came to the last episode of Ozark. The story is sort of a rural, modern Gatsby tale. I mean, if you always understood Fitzgerald’s masterpiece to be about the American Dream and not just a love story.
There’s An Empty Desk Today—a poem from my youth
[The following is a poem I wrote in high school in reflection on the suicide of a classmate]
There’s an empty desk today
And yet the textbooks are still open
The chalk is still in motion
The class is still in session,
The space cannot be filled
For the presence is forgotten
A parent’s own begotten
A youth’s demise is rotten,
Was he more a ghost
In the present or the past
A living outcast
Life ceases way too fast,
The others shrug their shoulders
There goes another one
It cannot be undone
Bless the little son,
Sadness will fade slowly
Nothing will be the same way
The kids will always say
There’s an empty desk today.
3 Poems Featured in Deep South
Hey folks! Happy Poetry Month!
I wanted to share with you that Deep South Magazine is featuring three new poems of mine as part of their celebration of National Poetry Month!
Flea Market
Tomatoes: A History
I’d Rather We Lived In A Mobile Home
You can read all three of them here.
New Essay Published In The Windhover
Good day readers! I hope it is a good day. Recently The Windhover has published my essay, “Pharaoh’s Anatomy,” about the spirituality of kidneys.

Didn’t think that topic could be explored? Think again, and read my essay and other spiritually-themed work from the latest issue. You can purchase a copy from their website here.
This Week I’m Reblogging About Batman
This week I’m reblogging a post from 6 years ago about Batman villains. In the spirit of this year’s film release of The Batman and it’s hit villain, The Riddler.
The Ukraine Situation Is Simple, Putin Stooge
Regardless of what Putin-apologists will tell you, the situation in Ukraine is simple. Ukraine is a sovereign nation. Russia invaded them. Continue reading