Author Archives: Christopher

My book is now available: The Maintenance of the Shimmy-Shammy by Christopher Citro

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My first book of poetry, The Maintenance of the Shimmy-Shammy by Christopher Citro, has just been published by Steel Toe Books, an independent press affiliated with Western Kentucky University. The price is $12 plus shipping and handling.

You can order today from Amazon and Barnes & Noble Online.

Visit my website to read sample poems and blurbs about the book from poets Amy Gerstler, Catherine Bowman, Maurice Manning and Erika Meitner.

Bookstores and educators can contact the publisher directly for information on discounts and ordering in bulk.

Barrow Street

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My poem “Nobody Is Ever Missing” has just been published in Barrow Street‘s winter 2014/2015 issue.

This issue is full of great poetry, including work by Meg Day, Molly Peacock, Christina Pugh, and more. There’s a poem by the wonderful James Harms called “Umbrella” that nearly made my heart fall down a spiral staircase.

You can grab a copy for ten bucks HERE.

The title of my poem was taken from the last line of John Berryman’s “Dream Song 29.” You can watch a video of him reading his poem HERE.

Every River on Earth: Writing From Appalachian Ohio

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I just received my contributor’s copy of the Every River on Earth: Writing From Appalachian Ohio. This anthology was edited by the poet Neil Carpathios and published by Ohio University Press in Athens, Ohio.

From the anthology’s website:

Every River on Earth: Writing from Appalachian Ohio includes some of the best regional poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction from forty contemporary writers, both established and up-and-coming. The wide range of material from authors such as David Baker, Don Bogen, Michelle Burke, Richard Hague, Donald Ray Pollock, and others, offers the reader a window into daily life in the region. The people, the landscape, the struggles, and the deepest undercurrents of what it means to be from and of a place are revealed in these original, deeply moving, and sometimes shocking pieces.

The book is divided into four sections: Family & Folks, The Land, The Grind, and Home & Away, each of which explores a different aspect of the place that these authors call home. The sections work together beautifully to capture what it means to live, to love, and to die in this particular slice of Appalachia. The writing is accessible and often emotionally raw; Every River on Earth invites all types of readers and conveys a profound appreciation of the region’s character.

The authors also offer personal statements about their writing, allowing the reader an intimate insight into their processes, aesthetics, and inspirations. What is it to be an Appalachian? What is it to be an Appalachian in Ohio? This book vividly paints that picture.

You can learn more at the anthology’s website HERE — where you can read for free the title poem, the Table of Contents, the Foreword by Donald Ray Pollock, the Introduction by Neil Carpathios and author biographies. You can order the book directly from the publisher, purchase e-versions for various platforms, and request a desk/exam copy if you’re an instructor. Also, here’s the book’s Amazon page.

I’m proud as all get-out to have three of my poems in this anthology, including one poem previously published in The Cincinnati Review and two previously unpublished poems written while living in Scio, Ohio, a small southern Ohio village, pop. 800.

Thank you Neil Carpathios for including me in this wonderful volume!

Creative Nonfiction Accepted at Boulevard

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I’m excited to share the news that my nonfiction essay “An Elephant Walks Into a McDonalds” has been accepted for publication in Boulevard.

The essay is a memoir account of two prison arts outreach experiences I have had. The first was in the 1990s at Washington DC’s Lorton Prison as an observer with Living Stage, and the second was in the 2000s as a guest poet at a jail outside Lawrence, Kansas.

This is the second personal essay I have had accepted for publication. The first one, “Go Away and Stay Right Here,” was published last year in Colorado Review. You can purchase a paper copy of that Spring 2014 issue for $10 or a pdf for $5 HERE.

Thank you Jessica Rogen and Boulevard!

Pushcart Nomination from Ice Cube Press

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I just received the wonderful news that my poem “Whatchamacallit” — which was published in Prairie Gold Anthology: An Anthology of the American Heartland from Ice Cube Press — has just been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

I’m so proud to be a part of this amazing anthology of writing from and about the Midwest. If you haven’t read the anthology, you can learn more about it and order a copy directly from the press HERE.

Thank so much Steve Semken and editors Lance M. Sacknoff, Xavier Cavazos and Stefanie Brook Trout!

The Chattahoochee Review

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My poems “Almost the Woods” and “There’s Always Abracadabra,” which were written in collaboration with Dustin Nightingale, have just been published in The Chattahoochee Review Fall/Winter 2014. This issue has a “skin” theme and tons of great poetry, prose, reviews, visual art and more.

You can grab a copy HERE or HERE.

Thanks again editors Michael Diebert and Lydia Ship!

The Review Review’s review of Barrelhouse 13

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I recently discovered that my list poem of mini poems “On Mother,” which appears in Barrehouse‘s recent comedy issue, was mentioned in a review by Michael Good published on the wonderful literary magazine review site, The Review Review.

The author writes:

A series of poems called, “On Mother,”  takes the on the style of Kenneth Koch, and in twenty three brief and disjunctive vignettes, reveals the mother’s character and personality. For example, “Mother (On Father and that One Nurse)” reads, “From now one, if anyone looks up your butt/it’s going to be a doctor or me.”

 

You can read the entire review of that issue HERE.

Best New Poets 2014

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Presents have arrived a little early here in Syracuse! My poem “Gathering a Few Facts” has just been published in the 2014 Best New Poets anthology guest edited by Dorianne Laux.

I am honored to be among the 50 poets chosen for this year’s anthology. The complete list:

Christine Adams, Annik Adey-Babinski, Nico Alvarado, Kate Angus, Linda Blaskey, Daniel Bohnhorst, Chuck Carlise, Anders Carlson-Wee, Christopher Citro, Noel Crook, Karen Embry, Sara Gelston, Benjamin Goldberg, Lenea Grace, Miriam Bird Greenberg, Richie Hofmann, Jen Jabaily-Blackburn, Wayne Johns, Danielle Jones-Pruett, Andrea Jurjević, Lisa Kwong, Peter LaBerge, Quinn Lewis, S.H. Lohmann, Karen Malzone, Amanda Jane McConnon, Corey Miller, Matthew Minicucci, Jenny Molberg, Rachel Morgenstern-Clarren, Erin J. Mullikin, C.L. O’Dell, Rosanna Oh, Joy Priest, Jacques J. Rancourt, Iliana Rocha, Erin Rodoni, Nicole Rollender, Carey Russell, T.J. Sandella, E.C. Sawatzky, Brittney Scott, Matt Sumpter, Talin Tahajian, Gabriella R. Tallmadge, Ocean Vuong, Anna Rose Welch, Lisa Wells, Phillip B. Williams, Jeremy Windham

You can order a copy from your local bookstore or online at places such as THIS, HERE, and ALSO.

Thanks so much again BNP editors, Jazzy Danziger and Dorianne Laux!