In light of the fact that Forever 21 has just declared bankruptcy, here’s the poem I wrote inspired by the store. It’s part of my fourth collection Shopping Cart Dreams published by Kelsay Books. All the dressesin the store lookmade for people whonever have to worryif they’ll fit. To be twenty-one again,with firm bodyand all […]
My poem “A Place You Never Knew” was just published in the spring 2025 issue of Innisfree Poetry Journal, their 40th issue https://www.innisfreepoetry.org/innisfree-40/gene-twaronite/
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I will be sharing poems from my new collection Death at the Mall at the Tucson Desert Art Museum on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 3:30 pm. The Tucson Arts Poetry Series (TAPS) was started Feb. 2023. Each 4th Saturday of the month, at 3:30 pm, two Arizona poets are highlighted reading their published work. The
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Dear Friends, I am excited to announce that my new poetry collection, Death at the Mall, has just been published by Kelsay Books. For me, it represents a milestone in my poetic journey. It features 54 all new poems as well as 16 poems selected from my four previous books. Not only is this my
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We walk there to escape the heator the pall of ourcoffined lives. We are a rag-tag lot,from the lithe, pony-tailed womanwho waves as she whizzes past me, to seniors with walkers and trekking poles,stepping cautiously towardwhatever future awaits, big families sprawled across the aisles,briefly trying to hold it all togetheragainst the forces spinning them apart,
about the death of an old dogdying alone by the side of a road,growling softly as he thinks ofthat calico cat he so despisedand loved to chase,remembering the last stroke behind his earsby the homeless old womanwho lived in the underpass. My chatbot muse pauses briefly,then out pours a poemabout a quantum poochwho exists in
The Burping Seal A lone Tupperware with sky blue lid, it lives on in my kitchen, a reminderof all it once held—loving leftovers of Mom’s greasy kugel or kielbasa,mincemeat cookies, coleslaw or apple pie. Its skin is worn soft from fifty yearsof washing and handling. Back and forthit went from her place to mine. I
I stare at the photographof a bare-chested 18-year-oldtrying to look brutish,crouching as ifready to pounce,projecting his masculinitylest the image fade. Our cells are no longer the same,but he still lives inside me,staring out fromhis secret chamber,where in one corneris a small tablewhere he praysand gazes upwardat Jesus in agony—a votive candle flickers. What would we
I will be leading a free workshop on “Demystifying Poetry” as part of my Writer in Residence for Pima County Public Library, on Wednesday, June 7, from 2-3:30 PM, at Dusenberry-River Library in Tucson.(https://pima.bibliocommons.com/events/64484d6d73e31d2900b46643) Geared for a general audience of poets, poets-to-be, or those who simply wish to find out more about this deeply imaginative
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