At The 5-2: Randall Compton

Texas teacher Compton offers "Sermon Notes".



Our annual blog tour, 30 Days of The 5-2, begins tomorrow.

The 5-2 is always open to submissions.

At The 5-2: "For Newtown" by Rachel Lynn McGuire

Virginia math teacher Rachel Lynn McGuire reflects on the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut:




Five spots remain open on The 5-2's April blog tour. Join us.

At The 5-2: "The New Ireland" by Seamus Scanlon

I turned to Lineup #3 contributor Seamus Scanlon for The 5-2's St. Patrick's Day poem, read by Clare Toohey of Women of Mystery and Criminal Element:




5-2 submissions are always open.

At The 5-2: "Take a Bite Out of Crime" by Catherine Wald

This week's poem is, oddly enough, not about former McGruff the Crime Dog voice actor John R. Morales's 16-year prison sentence for possession of marijuana plants and weapons.




A few spots remain open on The 5-2's April blog tour. One of them, coincidentally, is 4/20.

Another Round for Bukowski

BEAT to a PULP today commemorates the 20th anniversary of Los Angeles "outsider" poet Charles Bukowski's death with three appreciation poems.

Editor David Cranmer commissioned a poem from me this past week, which is posted along with one by his dearly-missed nephew, Kyle J. Knapp, and one by English poet Adrian Manning, courtesy of Silver Birch Press.

Wandering

Today is Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Frankly, I've given up a lot of material things in ten years as a full-time freelancer. For the past several Lents, I've reevaluated emotions and traits I once held onto dearly, parts I felt made me who I was. I didn't have a solid reason to keep them, only that I already had for so long.

I don't go in fixated on one particular thing I'm giving up, but replace my own desires with the needs of others.

Christopher Irvin talks FEDERALES

Shotgun Honey editor Chris Irvin has a novella out this week in paperback and ebook from One Eye Press. He stops by Chatterrific today as part of a blog tour.

Under Review

This past Sunday, in her Do Some Damage post titled "This author should die", Joelle Charbonneau spoke out against reviews that attack authors personally. Anne Rice noticed her post, and a Change.org petition is gaining steam against anonymous, cyber-bullying Amazon.com reviews.

I commented on Jolle's post as a creative writing major who learned how to critique poetry and fiction without impugning authors, and last night on Twitter Joelle mentioned being interviewed by a reporter about the root of cyber-bullying reviews.

We can reverse the trend by choosing, as reviewers, not to impugn creators but just evaluate their finished products. Admittedly, some find it difficult to separate themselves from their products. ("Hate my work and you hate me.") Reviewers can take the first step using language that keeps creators and products separate.

At The 5-2: "The Adjunct Professor's Lament" by Charles Rammelkamp

Rammelkamp returns with a poem that hit home for me, having spent six years an adjunct at Hofstra University:



Today is the deadline to submit poems about trickery, fooling, or being fooled for publication in April.