At least no one’s questioning he wrote it.
P
Sunday, April 05, 2026
Your Weekly Dose of God
It almost feels like a joke for Easter to already be here. Here's a card I found at the Forest Hills station that serves as an invitation to Easter mass today at the City on a Hill Church's Jamaica Plain location. As the card says, "He Lives."
No One Listened
"Don't Make America Sick Again" is a sign that I spotted not after 2020 but during a healthcare rally in April of 2017.
Another plea that went ignored.
Just recently, an article came out saying patients are refusing blood from vaccinated donors.
Donor vaccination status is not tracked, which means people can die from people waiting to receive their so-called untainted blood.
Too many Americans trust none of the people who have actively worked for years to serve or heal others.
Instead, they place their faith in the engines that serve to kill dreaded "others" and allow them to watch from their armchairs.
Saturday, April 04, 2026
My Saturday Haiku for Bluesky, 4-4-26
Bitter Saturday.
Fimbulwinter continues
despite changed seasons.
Friday, April 03, 2026
My Friday Evening Music
The song that keeps on popping up consistently when I search for The Showcase Showdown.
The First Spotlight
Poet and photographer Edward S. Gault is the first of our spotlighted writer/artists for National Poetry Month.
Thank you for reading Oddball Magazine this week. We'll see you this Monday.
Coffee With the North Andover Poets This Saturday
From former Poet Laureate Mark Bohrer:
You are invited to the next monthly "Poetry and Coffee"! This Saturday is the first Saturday of the month, April 4th. We are meeting at 9AM, at Diane's Cafe at the North Andover Historical Society.
Tonight: First Fridays Youth Open Mic with Rijah
Held at the First Baptist Church on 633 Centre Street in Jamaica Plain. Doors open at 7:00. Click here for more info.
Ron
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| Ron Goba with Tom Daley after a Salon reading in October 2010. |
Below are the words I prepared for my introductory piece to Ron Goba's tribute held this past Wednesday on April first at The Cantab Lounge in Cambridge. Though I rehearsed reciting the piece to make sure it was under three minutes, I ad-libbed an anecdote I kept forgetting to add during the various draft phases. I don't have a recording of my reading, so the ad-libbed part has been added according to my very faulty memory.
Ron was a giant who had conquered the world.
On the basketball court. In the school where he taught for decades.
Check and Check
Janet Cormier is back with Bamboozled No More! is back at Oddball Magazine. Friday is here!
Na/GloPoWriMo Update
It's been a rough 24 hours. My running around got the best of me.
So now I'm a day behind, and it's only Day Three.
I have to get back to work.
Leopards Eating Faces Update!
Thank you, Pam Bondi, for making my work easy this week. Funny. When the news was trending on social media, I thought she had already been fired. Silly me. I was confusing her with other Trump Pickme, Kristi Noem. Another woman sacrificed to save countless yes men, who we're apparently supposed to feel sorry for. No. Just no.
Thursday, April 02, 2026
New Clip Video While I Get My Voice Back
America doesn’t have a king! Why aren’t you working?!? UhweyooweyooweyooWEYoo!!!
Back Up
Appreciate John Patrick Robbins for publishing my poem "Closed" in today's edition of The Crossroads.
Nothing to See Here
Just me and my emotional support poets Timothy Gager and Jason Wright. Thanks to them and everyone else for coming to Ron Goba's tribute last night at The Cantab.
Wednesday, April 01, 2026
Monkey!
We're going to end on a happier note with poet Emily Farber and artist Eric N. Peterson. Thanks for reading Oddball Magazine this Wednesday. Keep coming back. Especially during National Poetry Month.
So Romantic
Poet Conor Ryan and artist Ken Tomaro kicks off the first Wednesday of April and National Poetry Month. Welcome to a new series of Wednesdays at Oddball Magazine. We'll do our best to intrigue you.
Carry On
Arlington poet Trapper Markelz gives us a touching piece in this week's Lyrical Somerville. You can read it now over at The Somerville Times.
I Like This
This one I just saw yesterday. Graffiti written on an old flyer offering to buy diabetic supplies. I don't know if the message written under the flyer's remaining word, "diabetic," means that the message is "Diabetic Politics Kills Children" or if it just meant to mean "Politics Kills Children." As grammatically incorrect as both messages are, I'll go with the former.
A Moment of Comics
It feels like cheating since I posted The Maxx last week, but for National Poetry Month I wanted to include this page from The Maxx #5 where Maxx is forced into speaking in rhyme as he dreams of meeting the Crappon in a Hat, an in-universe cartoon character. The Crappon dream sequence was drawn by Crappon's creator, Sam Kieth's cousin and infamous "Cow and Chicken" animator David Feiss. Tip of the hat to William Messner-Loebs for the poetry stuff.
American Haiku: Trump's Unedited Address
When I started my Sarcastic Haiku series, I wrote my first American Haiku.
An American Haiku doesn't care about tradition, formality or history. it takes as long as it wants to make its point because America. You can read
others I've written since by clicking here and scrolling down.
American Haiku: Trump's Unedited Address
America, the
war could end in two weeks if
all the democrats and grown up kids I touched would just die!
Your Wednesday Morning Poetry
It keeps me honest to keeping posting this feature during National Poetry Month. In honor of yesterday's Trans Day of Visibility, here is poet torrin a. greathouse's Haunting "On Confinement," published on the Poetry Foundation website.
NaPoWriMo 2026 Intro
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| NaPoWriMo graphic by Maureen Thorson. |
For those of you coming to this blog via the NaPoWriMo website, here's a little about me.
I've been a poet online for over thirty years years. I've been taking part in the annual poem-a-day event for almost as long. When I primarily call it NaMoWriMo and not GloPoWriMo, it's only because it's what I've known it to be for so long. Well, that and I have over two decades worth of labels on this blog to sort things out. No offense to my fellow poets around the globe. Maybe I'll go back and add the tags.
For the challenge, my poems are often written in a sparse style similar to the work found in my first book, Patron Emeritus, which I'll plug to give props to my non-Amazon using publisher. If you want to know about my more recent books and publication credits, check out my main website.
For nearly twenty years, I've hosted Stone Soup Poetry, a weekly gathering that now meets online. If you're interested, you should join us (and let you know you heard about us via the NaPoWriMo link).
I have a Patreon page you can join for cash or for free. I'll be trying to update that. I also have weekly poems like my American Haiku on Wednesdays and my (currently on hiatus) Stone Soup Croutons series on Fridays. I also do the occasional City Haiku and Practice Haiku and other odds and ends.
None of those will count towards the 30/30. If you don't see a NaPo/GloPo banner, they don't count.
Not a flex. Just a standard I like to put on myself for April.
This is my annual marathon run, and I intend to get through it despite whatever setbacks I have.
There will also be links to Oddball Magazine, a literary zine I help to edit and publish. I hope you consider sending your work over. Topical poetry is especially wanted in these times.
I also host a private Stone Soup Poetry group if you're interested in posting there to a small but devoted audience.
I'm always posting here, so I hope you come back here even after the April challenge is completed.
Good luck. Try not to break the Emergency Haiku Glass on the first day. Unless you're contrarian or love haikus. My standards are not yours.
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Back Again
It's the return of poet Susan Isla Tepper and her frequent collaborator, photographer Glenn Bowie. It's Tuesday now at Oddball Magazine.
This Week's Most Distinguished Network Name
It's amazing what people will name their online networks. I'm always
trying to hijack Wi-Fi when I'm commuting, so I often come across a
number of interesting names. Every Tuesday, I post the most impressive
and/or cringe-inducing names.
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| I must be very starved for internet puns. |
Monday, March 30, 2026
Getting Ready
Got my National Poetry Writing Month 2026 banner up loaded and ready to go.
Less than two days to go.
The Internet Needs More Cats!
Anne Skove is back with a very memeable comic for this week's "She Who Laughs Lasts" over at Oddball Magazine.
New Video by Stephanie Sterling
"YouTube is a sanctuary for hate. YouTube is where grifters are actively advantaged. YouTube is the online predator’s best friend. I refuse to believe that even Google’s leaders are so dimwitted as to not understand how they’re enabling dangerous people in the name of “safety.” Not even executives could be that stupid."
Begin with the Finnish
Mike Mesterton-Gibbons on those plucky Nords will start our week at Oddball Magazine. Have a good Monday against all odds.
The Drop Kick Murphys at No Kings, 3-28-26
Got to hear “Where Do You Stand” live twice in one month.
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