Jazz Won’t Save Your Life
Sean MurphySome Thoughts on International Jazz Day i. A drowning man can be pulled from the water, and who wouldn’t celebrate that act of compassion, that gesture, that gift of life?…
Introducing ‘red, white, and blues’
red, white, and blues is the fourth installment of a large, ongoing project acclaimed artist Matthew Shipp describes as “a kaleidoscopic, deep, and opulent journey.” Once more, I’m exploring America and its mythology through a…
George Floyd, Five Years Later
I wasn’t naive or historically ignorant enough to think, when Obama won the presidency in convincing fashion in 2008, that America had finally transcended racial matters. But I’ll admit being…
Original Poem: Francis Coppola’s Apocalypse
On Art Monsters & Immortality i. It continues to be a joy and honor to have my work appear –alongside so many excellent writers– in Exterminating Angel Press. The theme of…
On This Day, 1979
Chicago police disperse crowd in center field of Chicago's White Sox Park after hundreds of disco records were blown up between games of a double-header between the White Sox and…
Introducing “Kinds of Blue”
I am delighted to share that my third poetry collection, Kinds of Blue, is now available! Why Did I Write This Book?My work is as political as ever, but I seldom write…
Original Poem: Contraband
I think after almost 40 years the statute of limitations expires for petit larceny (petty, too). I'm not proud of "liberating" that dessert, but it inspired this poem that imagines…
Original Poem: Our Mothers, Whose Art is Heaven
This cycle of poems deals with “mommy issues” in, hopefully, all the right ways and for all the right reasons! The first of this three-poem cycle is below. Huge gratitude,…
Original Poem: Impermanence
I’ve written about my mother often, for all the right reasons (I love her, I cherish her memory, she’s a vital part of my ongoing existence, etc.), and I find…
Original Poem: A Middle-Aged Boy Mourns His Mother
I've written about my mother often, for all the right reasons (I love her, I cherish her memory, she's a vital part of my ongoing existence, etc.), and I find…