A few years ago we were reading “Madeline” and my wife noticed an oddity–when Madeline is off at the hospital, in one drawing, there is an extra little girl. She only appears that once, in a dining scene, and then she disappears. Now, usually, I write about rock music or poets, but something about this unexpected kid stirred me. In “Writhe.Waltz” I have two poems about her…I was going to read it to you, then realized I have someone more suited to it living with me. So, here is Audrey reading “The Thirteenth Girl in Madeline, Part II.”

To celebrate the forthcoming release of my new collection, Writhe.Waltz, here’s a preview poem. The form is inspired by Robert Browning, the photo is from RKO archives, and the design is by Christine Butterworth-McDermott, my artistic and life collaborator. I told her how I wanted it to look, she put it together, and I did the lunch dishes. I wrote this piece years ago and I’m very pleased Kelsay Books is finally giving it a home.

There’s a new poem up today, “To the Tripping Man at Altamont.” The editors at the museum of americana have been very supportive of my work over the years and I’m always grateful when they publish another piece from me.

If you don’t know about the disastrous concert at Altamont in 1969, it’s tragic and fascinating and sadly still feels relevant.

To the Tripping Man at Altamont—Poetry by John A. McDermott

Thank you to Juked for posting a new poem. Years ago, Juked was kind to me and posted one of my early short stories. It’s great to have a return visit.

“Spring Grove…” is one of a cycle of poems examining mid-twentieth century LSD experimentation.

http://www.juked.com/2018/08/john-a-mcdermott-spring-grove-state-mental-institute-baltimore-1965.asp

I’m so pleased to start the new year off with a fresh poem up at The American Journal of Poetry. I hope you enjoy it!

http://www.theamericanjournalofpoetry.com/v4-mcdermott.html

I’m pleased to have a new poem up at Pif Magazine. Thanks for reading!

http://www.pifmagazine.com/2017/06/where-there-are-vipers/

Thanks to the kind editors of One Sentence Poems, you can read my very tiny poem, “Polysyndeton: A Love Story,” on their site.

http://www.onesentencepoems.com/osp/john-mcdermott/

I haven’t done any visual poetry lately, so to correct that, here’s a new one. Why? Because it’s the beginning of the semester and I should be prepping classes. This is avoidance behavior. Seriously, this is for my father, who has been dead coming on fifteen years now, and because I’ve been gone from Wisconsin for nearly as long.

I’ve been playing with poems in graphic form lately, but have limited design talent. Fortunately,  I’m married to a woman who’s an illustrator and painter. She’s able to put on the page what I see in my head. It’s expensive for journals to publish poems in the form of color art, so I’ll be posting most of these experiments here. Here’s the first. (Hit the pdf link below to see it larger.)

Nirvana Playing Twister with the Smashing Pumpkins