Protect Indie Publishing & Freedom of the Press

“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins.” —Benjamin Franklin, On the Freedom of the Press

In a moment when the arts and free expression are under pressure, Franklin’s words remind us of the crossroads we’re at in the United States. That’s why I’m here with Tupelo Press and their 30/30 Project. Small, independent presses like them need our support now more than ever.

I think of independent presses as a keystone species in our literary ecosystem. Remove them and we’ll see fewer risky debuts, fewer regionally rooted books, and fewer voices outside the commercial center. The result is a quiet extinction of the literary arts.

On a personal level, I’m here to stretch my writing practice.

Over the next thirty days, I will finish my book, Appalachia Mountain Deep Time: Poems on Salamanders, Wineberries, & the Alleghenies, a collection that spans billions of years, tracing the Allegheny Plateau and Southern Alleghenies from the Big Bang through the opioid crisis.

It’s mountains and rivers, hemlock forests and coal swamps, truck drivers and skiers, housekeepers and drug dealers, government cheese and wineberries, red-eyed vireos and towhees—all pressed into the strata of the Alleghenies.

At its heart are questions of awe like, how stardust becomes mineral, becomes asteroid, becomes planet, becomes water, becomes six skiers under a moon on a mountain the same age as the star on the horizon.

Your generous gift makes three things possible. It…

• 1️⃣ Fuels my daily progress and keeps my spirits high.
• 2️⃣Helps Tupelo Press uphold its high publication and production standards.
• 3️⃣Defends the arts and the freedom of the press.

If you’re able, please donate. Just $25 truly helps.

Thank you for being part of this work and the ecosystem that keeps independently published writing possible.