A note to my readers.

Plus two lunes and a haiku.

A quick note!

Thank you, dear readers, for your subscription to this newsletter. Whether your subscription is free or paid, everyone’s welcome here.

(Paid subscriptions help pay the bills and buy the coffee that keeps this machine running. I might be the only poet in America who pays his bills with poetry.)

I’m quickly approaching 5K subscribers, a milestone. It’s fair to say that Dispatches from the Basement has more readers than most mainstream poetry publications. I don’t send my poems to magazines or journals; I only publish my work here. What a gift — to have a readership at all as a poet in the year 2024.

Lastly, I celebrated my 46th birthday yesterday. I am full of gratitude and I thank God for the many blessings in my life, including the good company I’ve found in this space.

       
       how dawn isolates 
a single 
              thorn on a white rose 


*

       a crucifix-shaped 
shadow stretched
              over a wood floor 


*

       one year older! I 
comb my fingers through moonlight 
              puddled on the bed