Poems are MADE THINGS: loaf & invite your Soul.

Poet Bio: Mike Dockins grew up in Yonkers NY. He holds a B.S. from SUNY Brockport ('99), an MFA from UMASS Amherst ('02), & a PhD from Georgia State U ('10). His poems have appeared in Crazyhorse, The Gettysburg Review, Third Coast, Quarterly West, Indiana Review, Gulf Coast, PANK, & in the 2007 edition of The Best American Poetry. His critically-acclaimed first book of poems, Slouching in the Path of a Comet (Sage Hill P, '07), moved 850 copies before going out of print, but will be re-issued by C&R Press in the spring of '17. His second collection, Letter to So-and-So from Wherever, won the Maxine Kumin Award in Poetry, & was published by C&R Press in '14. For the last 16 years he has taught creative writing with John Hopkins' Center for Talented Youth (CTY) summer program. Mike moonlights as a singer-songwriter. Fame For Zoe, a full-length album ('05) from his acoustic-pop duo Clop, is available on iTunes. He lives currently near Decatur GA.

Author Statement:

Round 1: The Coal Stove (Jan. '14)

I lived on a hill above Keuka Lake in upstate NY, collecting dismal but haloed unemployment checks, scratching the belly of a tiny old fangless gray tabby who loved me back, & threatening to dig drainage ditches forever. When my sad little ships came in to that sad little harbor, I convinced my roomie to drive me to McDonald's (under the I-buy-you-fly philosophy), but sometimes he would make home-made goulash while we busted our guts over episode after episode of Archer while the coal stove coughed its monstrous dust into the constellations.

Round 2: The Grim Reaper (Dec. '14)

I found myself in California, juggling 30/30, full-time work, holidays with family, & friends seemingly dying all around me: James Foley, Judith Kitchen, Tomaz Salamun. I was a train wreck that occurs in mid-air over the Grand Canyon: one train goes off the rail on one side, the other on the other, & the engines collide over the dismal & tremendous Colorado River, & the little bits of metal & oil & glass & bone scatter like grim confetti into endless sage & jackrabbits & river-wind.

Round 3: The Charm (Nov. '16)

Let's go.

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