Since the release of Lord’s Own Anointed in December of 2015, I’ve had the pleasure to read for some amazing audiences in Louisiana, Massachusetts, and New York. The book officially launched in January of 2016 at St. John’s Coffeehouse in Covington, Louisiana. It felt right to launch the collection there, so close to where the stories and characters of the poems came into being. The event was hosted by Rob Fairburn, whose artwork appears on the book’s cover and throughout its pages. Rob has been killing it lately with new commissions and projects–if you don’t follow him on Instagram already, then you most definitely should. And consider commissioning a piece from him–his rates are reasonable and his work is phenomenal.

In April, I read for one of the last installments of Mr. Hip Presents in Jamaica Plain, Boston. I was excited to read alongside David Blair, Bobby Crawford, and Sarah Blake . Mr. Hip is legendary in Boston for his monthly showcase of diverse poets and musical guests. Each reading felt like the best kind of talk show, with musical interludes, humor, book giveaways, dancing, and every kind of poetics you can think of, from slam to sonnets, narrative to elliptical, all held together by Mr. Hip’s genius for hosting. It’s too bad that the series has folded, but it was phenomenonal while it lasted. Anyone with the good fortune to attend these readings came away with the feeling that anything, just anything can happen at a poetry reading. I am honored to have been a part of it.

I was invited by Dan Wuenschel to read with Simeon Berry and heather hughes at the Cambridge Public Library in August for the series that Dan hosts in the public lecture space there. Like Mr. Hip Presents, this series illustrates that poetry can feel just at home out in the world as it does on the university campus. The public library is a natural venue for a poetry reading, as it’s a community space dedicated to learning and preserving access to the arts of language. I have to say that the crowd for our reading was sizable and enthusiastic, due in large part to the efforts of heather, Simeon, and Dan to drum up interest in the months leading to the big night. We were worried that a number of regulars wouldn’t make it, as many of them would likely still be out of town on summer vacations. But thanks to the dedicated push to get the word out early and often, that night we read to one of the best audiences I’ve ever seen gathered.

I try to make it out to New York as often as possible, which sadly amounts to just a few times a year as work obligations and other responsibilities conspire against me. In fact, last year I thought for sure I wouldn’t get to visit at all, as an unplanned event took up the precious few vacation days I had hoped to reserve for a handful of three-day weekends in New York. But when the invitation to read in October for Carmine Street Metrics (one of the best reading series in New York) came from Quincy Lehr, Anton Yakovlev, and Wendy Sloan, I knew I couldn’t pass it up. So, I packed my suitcase and headed down to read with J.D. Smith, who was promoting his latest collection. This was my second time featuring for Carmine Street, and my first at the legendary Otto’s Shrunken Head in the East Village.

If a public library seems like a natural fit for a poetry reading, a tiki bar in lower Manhattan may at first glance appear antithetical. But if you’ve read my poems, you should know that they feel as much at home on a bar stool as on a church pew. I applaud the work of poet-promoters like the Carmine crew for their effort to bring poetry to venues–like tiki bars–where it’s routinely ignored. Kudos to Carmine, too, for providing a longstanding venue for formal verse, featuring what has to be the best open mic in the country. Among the poets reading at the open mic in October were Terese Coe, John Foy, and John Marcus Powell. In a space that regularly hosts rock shows, our reading may not have made the walls shake, but we rocked out all the same.

Each of these events was a labor of love, and when I think of all of the unpaid hours in organization and promotion, I am honored that these good people thought my work deserved so much of their time and energy. It’s enough to keep me going for a long time to come.