A.M. Hayden - Windy Chicken Poet

08/18/2026

Debating on whether to keep this FB "professional" page since I have way more activity on my personal FB regarding poetry and my Instagram for sure and thinking of simplifying things. Anyone on here that isn't also on my personal and/or insta? I started it in the attempt to keep professional/online life separate from personal, but slowly those lines just seem to naturally blur anyway. Any thoughts? Always looking for simplifying - more time for life and writing.
(Photo of Jane Austen's desk courtesy of Caroline Reynolds, taken at Chawton)

08/17/2026

For all of those who knew Dr. Reverend Barbara Battin, please consider contributing to Poetry Is Life Publishing Jason Blakely towards costs of publishing Barbara's poetry collection: "Attentive to Tulips: Volumes 1 and 2."

Some of you know, I've been working all year on collecting and compiling Barbara's life's work into a book. This has been a successful endeavor, so successful in fact, that the completed collection is over 400 pages! Therefore, the book will be printed in two Volumes.

Jason Blakley Poetry Is Life Publishing generously partnered with me on this sabbatical project when I began, agreeing to publish Barbara's collection when finished. As many of you know, prices for everything have gone UP tremendously, including prices for text paper, cover stock, ink/toner, laminate, production overall, especially for small, Indie presses.

If you can, any donation to help offset costs would be MUCH APPRECIATED by Jason and Poetry Is Life Publishing so that he can focus on releasing the collection in both Volumes September 2027.

His PayPal: Poetry Is Life Publishing
Jason F. Blakely - Publisher/Poet

If you'd prefer sending a check:
Poetry Is Life Publishing
P.O. Box 228
Akron, Ohio 44309

Email: [email protected]
Website: www.poetryislifepublishing.com

Thank you so much for your generosity! We can't wait to bring Barbara's book into the world!

Below: "Somehow September" from Vol 2, Attentive to Tulips, Dr. Rev. Barbara Battin.

08/06/2026

Sealey Poetry Challenge: "High Anxiety" by Steve Skafte

Anyone with anxiety can relate to this. My favorite line: "I got this far without a boat."

Never written something that more distinctly described my chaotic state of mind. Scribbled on a cold evening in Chicago, thoughts running out of control. From my poetry paperback: Someone in Search of Story (2020). Almost out of print, grab one of the last copies 50% off: etsy.com/shop/SteveSkafte

08/06/2026

I am thrilled and so grateful to Dr. Rachel Turney and the.poetry shop for featuring my first poetry collection, American Saunter: Poems of the U.S. on her summer "Poetry Beach Reads."

I am in such amazing company with Erica Reid with her "Ghost Man on Second," Candace M. Kelsey's Another Place Altogether, and Rachel herself with the absolutely rocking "Record Player Life the b-side."

If you'd like your own copy of "American Saunter," you can find it through FlowerSong Press, most places books are sold, or you can dm me for a signed, in scripted copy!

08/03/2026

Sealey Poetry Challenge: "Tickets" by Samih Al-Qasim.

08/02/2026

For the challenge, I've chosen this poem, "Everyone Fantasizes Being Loved by a Poet" by . Humorous, but also so truthful about poets' sometimes hyper-focused-near-obsession with creating a poem. ❤️

07/26/2026

A "sorta Sonnet" about Portishead! Will be part of the collection, Siren Psalms, released next year by Wild Ink Publishing LLC Thank you to for picking up this piece!

A Sorta Sonnet for Beth Gibbons (Portishead) Not like the other melancholy folk, Sonic Saraswati super-wahing; Harmonium moon bruises hiss ...