What happened is happening: poems [Available Now]
Well, today is the day. WHAT HAPPENED IS HAPPENING: POEMS is officially released into the world, available now via my online shop and Amazon!
Created throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, these poems give outward expression to an inner experience of heightened uncertainty, longing for connection, reflection on the past, and hope for a future worth inhabiting. In this minimal, fragmented form—perfect for tired attention spans—the seeds of reimagining self and society are planted.
The finished product is a 182 page paperback book with a matte cover and smooth, white interior pages—70lb. paper in the books from my store, a bit thinner but still strong at 55lb. paper from Amazon. As books should, I think it feels as good in hand as it looks to the eye.
(A note: It’s my hope to also distribute through local bookstores and libraries, but the companies that manage that process are having a hard time printing the blackouts with their inkjet printers for anything in the realm of an affordable cost to you. Working on it;)
An excerpt from the Introduction:
“I don’t know what’s ahead, but I do know we are inherently connected. What I do affects you; what you do affects me. And we continue to destroy ourselves if we deny that reality. We belong to one another because we exist together in this world—however fraught it may be.
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What we are seeing is nothing new. What happened in 2020 was already happening. What happened is still happening, and in an all too literal sense. As I write this in January of 2022, the pandemic rages on, our democratic republic is teetering, our healthcare and education systems verge on collapse, and individuals and families are rightfully exhausted. What else could we be at this point?
We would do well to look closely at how we got here. The only way we can create the possibility of a more just, humane, and viable future for us all is to take an honest look at our past and let it shape how we decide to live together in the present. This sort of reflection has to start in the hearts, minds, and bodies of each of us. I hope this small collection of poems might provide a place for some of us to do that work.
I am as ready as anyone for the suffering of these pandemic times to end. I only hope that we don’t foolishly leap into the “after” without careful consideration of what brought us here and has kept us here for so long. Truly, what happened is happening. And it will keep happening unless enough of us decide to interrupt it with a better way.”
Finally, no book is made alone. A deep bow of gratitude to everyone who made this book possible and encouraged me along the way. I’ll have more to say in the coming days, and I look forward to hearing from you all as you receive your books! I’d love nothing more than to see it in your hands and hear about which poems resonate with you.