Arnzen Over Frostburg, Summer 2015

If you are in 150 mile radius of the gentle town of Frostburg, Maryland, consider making the drive to come see me this summer in one of two events sponsored by the downtown Creative Writing Center at Frostburg State University. FIRST UP: MAY 2nd, Coffee with a Writer On May 2nd, 10am, meet me in downtown Frostburg at the FSU Creative Writing Center and join me in the morning for a cuppa joe. (Oh, who are we fooling? I will drink gallon drums of the stuff!). It's a happy little gig they call "Coffee with a Writer" -- an open-to-the-public…

Things to Do in Denver When You’re Undead

Use the "cold activated" Coors beer bottle as a body temperature probe. Make them run to the hills, where the air is even thinner. Visit all those new head shops downtown, seeking fresh brains. Eat the best Mexican. Gallop into a Bronco game on Thunder, as one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Show them what what their state name really means.   A busy month in my day job, but I'm trying to write horror poems here and there all month in a loose celebration of National Poetry Month.  Most of them will be kept offline for later…

Iambic Pentagrameter – a sicilian quintain

Iambic Pentagrameter we gather up the sacrificial goats twisting heads to face the sky above we snick our razors quick across their throats wringing necks to squeeze out all the blood naked in the mud and incense smoke Update 5.3.15: Jen Barnes of Raw Dog Screaming Press has posted a video of my reading of this visual poem at the Frostburg Center for Creative Writing over on facebook.

the severed hand speaks

when it first crawled the stump stung but it realized somewhere within the ring of bottomless pain at its base that it was feeling and because it was feeling it was thinking if only in that strange way that we all quiver in powerlessness when overcome with agony like a child banished to the corner by a teacher we secretly want to kill and then it realized that it once had a teacher, too -- an instructor of American Sign Language who used to rap its knuckles when it misproduced (which was the teacher's way of saying mispronounced) simple expressions…

Ask Me a Question on Goodreads

If you're on goodreads.com -- the book lover's equivalent of facebook -- then drop on by my profile page and "Ask the Author" any question you like. Nothing is too weird, too academic or too irrelevant. Of course, my answer might also be weird, too academic or irrelevant, too. I think goodreads is a great site, because everyone on it has a common interest and the discussions seem mostly genuine when it comes to books and stories. It features giveaways, reviews, discussion groups and more. And if you're into ebooks, the way it integrates with the new kindles from amazon…