From the Mouth of an Underdog

 

Pessoa approves

Azarão lit journal has published a poem of mine: Grave Silhouettes

Live From My Sick Bed, A Separation for Her Infirmary

 

Hello, The New Absurdist published a short story of mine. 

Ben Takes a Gothic Turn

Pictured above is Frederick III, German Emperor. He was Kaiser for only two months in 1888, until he succumbed to throat cancer. This early demise paved the way for his son ,Wilhelm II, to take charge of the German Empire. We all know how well that went.

What does this have to do with me? Thanks to Macy Skov at A Suffer's Digest, a short story of mine based on the Kaiser's malady is now published. It is called Bureau of Barbarians and is up and ready to be read.

Three Lines Going Down

 A three line poem of mine is up at Subliminal Surgery. It won't take long.

Reading Me, Is the Right Thing to Do

 

Another poem up at Disturb the Universe, "Maybe I can Go My Own Way" 

The Candid Review

 

It's THE Candid Review. Not A Candid Review of my work. It's just (TWO) poems. The first is called Processing Error. When you see it DO NOT PANIC. Everything has downloaded correctly. The second is called Alimentary Affinities, hence the picture above.

Who's that writin'? Ben the (Literary) Revelator

 

Literary Revelations has published two poems by me. They're under the giant portrait (taken by Christine Stoddard). If you can manage to look away from my visage, there's verse awaiting you on the bottom (don't attempt this with me in real life).

This Poem's a Hoot

 

The Wise Owl has published a poem of mine called Theme Songs at Birth. Metaphysical dualism meets Seinfeld!

Poem for the Grow Folk

 

Porridge Magazine has published a poem of mine: Grown Folk. It is not about porridge. 

Eat Your Mixed Greens

 

Have something in common with me by reading the newest issue of Common House and read my poem "Mixed Greens."

A Return to Prose Posts

 As some of you may know I am now studying for an MFA at Long Island University. Is studying the right word? I guess technically I'm a candidate. But not THE Candidate. That remains Robert Redford. Yes, the academic bug finally bit me. Who knows how far it will burrow inside. Classes have been good so far, lots of readings and such as you can imagine. I'm learning about the history of the novel and this little thing called "show don't tell." Oh damn. Did I just violate it? In one of my classes, Crossing Genres, we are exploring different forms of writing. One of our first lessons focused on flash fiction. I haven't written much of it, but since that class I've been trying out the form. It used to be easier for me to write 50,000 words than something restricted to a 1,000. Or at least to be proud of the result. Now I can say I'm making progress on this front. Or, show you with a link to one of the first prose pieces I've published in a while. It's called The Magic Palm and it's in the Bright Flash Literary Review. The picture below (not the one on the website) is what inspired it. For all you prose lovers out there, rejoice.

A Wafer-Thin Slice of Anxiety

Just a tiny, tiny little bit of anxiety, via a poem I wrote for A Thin Slice of Anxiety

Fleas on the Hair of the Dog that Bit Me

 

Hello one and all. Here in New York, we're coming up to the one year anniversary of the lockdown. What a year or lack of a year it's been. The folks over at Fleas on the Dog have published several of my poems. Just search for my name or scroll on down to get to the good stuff. CW: descriptions of Eczema.

But I'm still an Embryo with a Long, Long Way to Go

 

Embryo Concepts' latest issue "Guilty Pleasures" is out now. My poem Blunderland is in it. Depending where you work, it might not be safe. If so, it's probably the first time I've published anything controversial in that vein. Otherwise, it might give you some ideas of how to survive this blasted quarantine. 

The Luck of Submitting to the Irish

 

The second issue of Beir Bua journal is out with my poem "Accordion Grimes" in it. Open the PDF to read it. In case you're wondering, Beir means "bring" and Bua means "victory, talent, or virtue."

Find Me North of Oxford

 

My poem "Knowing the Vine" is in North of Oxford's Pandemic Issue. Just search for the title or my name: N-A-R-D-O-L-I-L-L-I.

Brown Bagging Some Poetry

The first issue of Brown Bag is out and there is a poem in there from me. Scroll down to find my work, which is called "Rat Park." The title is taken from the famous experiment on addiction. Structure-wise, I formed the sentences using a random Facebook status generator, which created new statuses for me based on ones I've previously posted. It's part of a series I wrote back in 2015. They were inspired by my time working at the Arlington Court House. I wanted to create a form of poetry that resembled the legal documents I read. Since I was taking on a legal structure, the topic of the poems took on a similar theme, essentially putting an alter-ego of myself on trial. In the end, my work resulted in a book length collection that's still unpublished as a whole.

This particular poem is a success story about endurance in publishing. I've submitted Rat Park over the past couple of years to dozens of journals, reviews, and web pages. In total, something like a hundred total venues. Every time I got a rejection. But that's the writing life. If you're not ready to deal with rejection, you're not ready to deal with submission. I suppose that's really what the submission is, giving up one's attachment and allowing an editor free reign over the piece. Anyway, after so many submissions and so many rejections, I finally got it accepted. Of course, in between the rejections I tweaked my poem here and there, and made a couple of edits. Every ten rejections or so I think you should look over your lines. I even chopped up the poem into something new and released it under a different title: Rat Spark, which was published by Nauseated Drive. 

So poets of America, keep reaching for that rainbow!

Your Word for the Day is Synaeresis

Synaeresis is either the contraction of two vowels into a diphthong or a long vowel, or the separating out of the liquid from a gel.

It is also a publication from Canada.

Synaeresis : arts + poetry Issue 11 has now been published, featuring my poem "America's Fightingest General"

The Goshdarn Freaking News

A poem of mine by the same name is up at Pendemic, a publication that's been set up in reaction to the current pandemic. Some of you may have guessed that the title of the poem (and this post) comes from Chapo Trap House. If you did, you won, and your prize is...more poetry.

One of a Kind Poem

But then again, every poem is a one of kind, for the most part. It's in a one of a kind journal, Infection House. The picture above depicts a woman using a stereoscope, which is what inspired the comparison with Victorian Britain mentioned in the poem.