I'm delighted to be launching The Singing Bullets of Soft Secession: & Other DaySongs at Elliott Bay Books Sunday, November 1, 2026 @ 7pm. 1521 10th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122. I'm grateful to Greg Bem, my publisher at Carbonation Press, editor Josh Massey and to Jason Wirth and Nadine Maestas, two friends who will be part of the Sunday night event. Jason will emcee and Nadine will read and also participate in a post-reading panel. I hope you will attend, as these events are rare for me and I would appreciate your presence.

Barry McKinnon told me that William Carlos Williams said that every poem you write should be a culmination of your life up to that point. I have never verified the citation, but the concept rings very true to me. The book is the culmination of a practice of daylong writing rituals that were conducted on five such occasions. I have written 8 successful daysongs, but the other three have been published in one form or another, including a previous Carbonation book: DaySong Miracle (Past 62).

For the form, I was inspired by Pierre Joris and his Canto Diurno and by Bernadette Mayer's Midwinter Day.  

As I noted for the Zoom co-launch last Friday with Brenda Hillman, I have been quite interested in writing that displays or investigates the range of one's personal gesture. Having written 17 syllable poems daily for 25 years, a few years ago I ventured into ritual territory wiht my writing process and the form of the daysong turned out to be quite satisfying. In correspondence, Andrew Schelling noted that there is no mention of Ed Sanders in my new book, but he is there and for one particular version of the daysong, I cited his work and (again) Brenda Hillman's in a writing exercise handout. Anno Uno Die (Aut Deptem.)

Nadine Maestas is hitting her stride as a poet with the La Llorona series, and is on the committee that is launching a Latinx literary series Los Cerezos in April 2027 at Seattle U. 

Jason Wirth is a brother and an astute literary mind who can help guide a conversation toward the depth it deserves. I am grateful he and Nadine are hlping me on this occasion.