I was honored and humbled to receive two Pushcart Prize nominations during the month of November. Transcendent Zero Press nominated “Sacrificial Pawns” – an excerpt from the chapbook they released, Songs of a Dissident. Spirit Fire Review nominated “Expansive Salvation” – a poem that was published at their site in September.

Thank you to the editors associated with these 17 venues for accepting and/or publishing my work during November:

Also in November, I had an opportunity to perform at Shorter University along with friends from The Southern Collective Experience. There are several videos from the event posted here on our YouTube page

 

The Cubs won the World Series. There is quite a bit of compacted emotion contained in that short sentence. As a man who once aspired to be a pitcher who could help win the championship for the team, I tip my hat to those who were able to finish the job. Thirty years of anticipation was well worth the wait.

After I stopped playing baseball back in 1999, I turned my attention toward writing. I picked up a pen and practiced the craft until I was ready for the next phase. Patience. Diligence. Balance. More patience. Fast forward 15 years. The first poem I finally published was in June of 2014 at Dissident Voice. Two and a half years later, I reached the milestone of publishing my 1000th poem. It’s been an interesting journey so far. There are cycles within cycles within cycles, and, as December begins, I spin again…