Is this better, KliqKlaq? Less deserving of a strike?
Chad Parenteau: Poet For Hire
The Blog
Thursday, September 24, 2026
Alternate Take
Dancing to a Different Song
And then their pay got docked.
In a Mood
Right about now!
The funk soul brother!
Check it out now!
The funk soul brother!
Right about now!
The funk soul brother!
Check it out now!
The funk soul brother!
(Repeating until slapped...)
(Somebody slap me...)
Lee Desrosiers Features at Stone Soup Poetry, 9-23-26
From this week's online gathering. A night where the feature and the open mic was on point. Fun was had by all. We hope you join us next time. We also hope you buy Lee's latest book.
The Features Go On
Stone Soup Poetry came back in full force with special featureLee Desrosiers. Thanks everyone who came out and thanks to Lee for a wonderful feature. Be sure to get their new book Pocketing the Light. Stay tuned for more Stone Soup News. We have a lot of good stuff coming.
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Oh, Wow
It's been a while since I've had a special feature to look forward to.
Tonight, Stone Soup Poetry will welcome Lee Desrosiers to or virtual podium.
It will be great if you come out tonight.
Take Off
Bob McAfee returns with three versions of the same poem with a fitting photo by also-returning contributor Mark Blickley. Thank you for reading Oddball Magazine this Wednesday. We hope you come back soon.
Newcomer Cavalcade
Welcome our new contributors, poet Amian Bent and artist Eric Suhem, to our first post for Wednesday at Oddball Magazine. Come back. We've got more on the way!
Leaving Summer
Deborah Leipziger, puts a cap on summer in this week's Lyrical Somerville, up now at The Somerville Times.
A Moment of Comics
Amazing how a world where compassion was seen as weakness and criminal was presented as science fiction less than twenty years ago by a then-uncancelled creator. From Astonishing X-Men #21 written by Joss Whedon with artwork by the late John Cassaday and colors by Laura Martin.
American Haiku: RIP Freedom (Fest)
Your Wednesday Morning Poetry
I'm planning to buy one of Sean Patrick Mulroy's books soon. Today, we'll feature one of his poems published in Muzzle Magazine. Read "demon blues."
Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Torn Horizon
New contributing poet Ayaan Fahad and returning photographer Edward S. Gault break in our Tuesday at Oddball Magazine.
This Week's Most Distinguished Network Name
Post-Summer Thoughts, 2026
I lost someone I cared about and liked this summer. That was the most dominant part of the summer, and you barely read about that here.
Monday, September 21, 2026
Summer 2026 Highlights: My Health
My medical appointments cast a large shadow over my summer.
I went to the doctor and did lab work a lot this summer. It was not pleasant.
And I'm not done.
Yes, I'm being vague.
I'm all right. I feel pretty good. I just have anxiety.
It seems like I'm on the right track.
October is going to be rough, but I can get through it.
My partner's mother passed away after a quick period of deterioration.
That helped light a fire under me.
Summer was just the start of this run of visits.
I can't wait for winter when I can really rest for a bit.
Summer 2026 Highlights: Where It Ended for Us
Summer 2026 Highlights: Provincetown
We only went down one day this summer. We fit everything in. Seafood, a film at Waters Edge Cinema, time at the beach, yoga, local ice cream, and no need to park. A perfect day all told.
Comics Spotlight: Patrick McEvoy and Olivia Pelaez
Thank you for reading Oddball Magazine this Monday.
Summer 2026 Highlights: The Boston Poetry Marathon
The Boston Poetry Marathon started one day after I got home from Montreal. That is to say, it started less than ten hours after I got to bed from the worst travel I've had in this century.
I am proud of myself and what I was able to do this year, but I was too tired to keep up with putting media up on the social media pages. I still have photos to put up before the end of tonight.
I'm ashamed of the fact that because of the travel and everything else going on, I couldn't get Carol Weston to read remotely. I won't forgive myself for that anytime soon.
I still owe everyone a thank you email. I hope I can get that out tonight too.
A One-Act Chapter
The latest chapter of Steven David Justin Sills' ethics treatise takes a different turn. Read his one-act play within a treatise with artwork by Richard Spisak over at Oddball Magazine.
Summer 2026 Highlights: Musical
Almost forgot that my partner got tickets to Les Misérables at the top of the summer. Didn't take photos of the show, of course, and now I have this neat photo of the inside of the theatre that I don't know what to do with.
Summer 2026 Highlights: Montreal
I went to Canada in August. I tried to capture as much as I could. I just don't do well when I go into a country for a first time. Next time, I'll do better. Still, I took in the sights, and I'm hopefully going to put my vacation videos up. I really should given that summer ends tomorrow.
Summer 2026 Highlights:
I wasn't thrilled about the fireworks this year, but it was good to experience everything with family. That's better than explosions.
On Display
Anne Skove is back with a specia in-color comic from the weekend. Read "She Who Laughs Lasts" this Monday at Oddball Magazine.
Identified?
Susan Isla Tepper is back with a poem to touch on the current UFO news with photography by Alexis Rhone Fancher. Welcome the new week at Oddball Magazine.
September 23: Stone Soup and Lee Desrosier Dance on Summer's Grave
Thanks to Lee Desrosiers for wanting to stop by Stone Soup Poetry this autumn. She has a new collection of poetry out and a Stone Soup feature this Wednesday. Let's show up for September's first special feature and give this hardworking poet their due.
Join us on Wednesday, September 23, from 7:00 to 9:00 PM ET by clicking this link.
The meeting ID is 883 3941 5240
Password: stonesoup
Summer 2026 Highlights: Driving
I got into an auto accident in 2025 driving through the north shore. I didn't want to drive to the north shore at all in 2026.
Emergencies came up. I had to go. A lot.
It all culminated with me driving a U-Haul through the north shore two weekends ago.
I don't run from my fears. I'm apparently not fast enough.
I've had my fears jammed through my throat constantly this summer.
My Monday Morning Music
Focusing on random music I heard on college radio. Expanding my horizons and hoping I can pass some new music onto people of my generation.
Sunday, September 20, 2026
Itty Bitty Aside
Anticipation
Steve Onderick has been working for over a decade on a documentary about the Church of Euthanasia, a group based in the Boston area for several years and especially prominent in the nineties and early aughties. I donated photography and audio from my past coverage to the project and was even interviewed at my old apartment in Southie, This summer, we received a Kickstarter update for the first time in a while.
In 2023, I got a look at what was then the finished film. I'm only showing a screenshot of the credits here. It was nice to be near the top of the "Special Thanks" list given that I don't appear in the documentary (insert a Daffy Duck impersonation here as I scream "What? Rich Mackin's name over mine?!?").
I recently scanned a lot of COE material and feel I have a couple of thousand words left to say on the subject. Thant makes me hope even more that the film is released soon and gets a special showing in Boston. Ideally in Brookline at Coolidge Corner Theatre, not far away from the scene of one of the Church's more infamous counter-protests.
Your Weekly Dose of God
Nothing like a store selling literature to desperate people who look for anything to stop from freezing in place until they die. Hope it works for a while.
Saturday, September 19, 2026
Friday, September 18, 2026
My Friday Evening Music
This week's selection made me work. I've tried for years to figure out this song's title so I could actually bring it up on YouTube. I only figured it out recently because of a Todd in the Shadows video that referenced music in 1982. The chorus is catchy, but the rest of the song doesn't quite match up to it. Out of the three songs I picked, Melissa Manchester's is the most interesting. I'll probably like it so I can hear it again, but I don't know if I could justify playing it in mixed company.
Irked
When someone puts up a $6 paywall to watch a video of them reading when the video is free on YouTube, you have to wonder what their thought process is.
Two-Step
Sometimes only I get the joke to my photo titles. That's fine. I'm the one who has to keep coming back here. Not you.
My Friday Morning Music
I probably heard this Doobie Brothers song in the car and didn't pay it mind, but then I heard the chorus in the Forrest Gump movie and wanted to hear it again. When I did, I was like, Eh. Despite the catchy chorus and the voice of Michael McDonald, this song just doesn't come together the way songs like "What a Fool Believes" does. Do all songs I find disappointing come from the seventies? We'll see.
Leopards Eating Faces Update!
Putting Kash Patel this week may be premature because he's not gone yet, but he's the first person who may have fed himself to the leopards!





























