June Poetry Update

Yukon Ho!

Hi friends.

I’m sending my June update a bit early because some exciting news just dropped.

I grew up in the Yukon. Mostly we lived in Whitehorse. But in my earliest years we lived in Dawson City. Here’s how I looked back then:

My exciting news is that I will be returning to Dawson City next spring, as one of the Writers in Residence at the historic Berton House. For two months I will get to be a full-time poet, while reconnecting with the landscape of my childhood. My term is in March and April of 2026—not the dead of winter, but definitely an authentic Yukon experience. Thank you to Writer’s Trust for the opportunity, and for all they do to support writers in Canada.

I’ll also be travelling to Houston, Texas, this June to take part in the University of St Thomas Summer Writers Institute, alongside some other writers I really admire. Yes, I’ve somehow arranged to travel to Texas in June and the Yukon in March. Don’t ask a poet to schedule your next vacation.

In other news, here are some recent poems:

I have a poem in the new issue of

Traces Journal

. It’s called Undigested Jonah, and it pretty much does what it says on the tin. A friend told me he could imagine it being narrated by Johnny Cash, which is one of the greatest compliments I’ve ever received.

Forgotten Ground, Regained, a journal of alliterative poetry, recently republished three of my poems in their latest issue, including Beneath the Buzzing of My Brainstem and Immersion. Most notably, they republished an excerpt from my long poem “The Lawgiver,” which was previously only available in my book, The Living Law. In his review of my book, Shawn Phillip Cooper called it “a poem so substantial that it is deserving of its own review.” Now, for the first time, you can read the first 6 sections (of 22, based on the structure of Psalm 118/119) online here. To read the rest of the poem, you’ll still need to track down the book (though another excerpt may be forthcoming soon).

Speaking of my book, a brief aside. In a recent post on their newsletter (which I recommend subscribing to), Wiseblood Books encouraged authors to directly ask for online reviews of their books. So this is my plea. If you’ve read and enjoyed The Living Law, consider leaving it a rating or review on Goodreads, Amazon Canada, Amazon US, or wherever else you do these things. Maybe it’ll help someone elses to discover it.

Back to the poems. I also have two poems in the most recent issue of the legendary Blue Unicorn. This magazine is only available in print, and if you like poetry it’s well worth buying a copy (or a subscription). This is one that I’ll honestly read cover to cover. But for those of you who don’t have access, I’ll share one of my two poems here. I also shared this on Twitter, where the brilliant poet Jane Greer kindly (and thematically) commented that “the final couplet should be chiseled in marble (or bedrock) somewhere.” Here it is:

When I first shared “Core Sample” on Substack,

Fr. Justin (Edward) Hewlett

(who among his other qualifications, is my Godfather/Sponsor in the Orthodox Church) wrote a response poem, which addresses similar themes. I’ll share it here to close off, not just because it’s a fun read in its own right, but because writing occasional poems to share with your friends is a practice we really should be working to revive.

Thanks to all of you for supporting my work.