The Maintenance of the Shimmy-Shammy Has Been Accepted!

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I am overjoyed, over-the-moon, overwhelmed and quite frickin’ excited to announce that my first poetry book manuscript, The Maintenance of the Shimmy-Shammy, has been selected for publication by Steel Toe Books, an independent poetry press founded in 2003, directed by Tom C. Hunley and associated with Western Kentucky University.

I love this press and I’m so excited that they’ll be publishing my book, which is scheduled to appear in the first quarter of 2015.

It is indeed a Happy New Year!

[Author photo above looking a bit pensive with an early version of the manuscript taped up on my office wall, wondering if it would ever find a home…]

Prairie Gold: An Anthology of the American Heartland

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I’m delighted to announce that two of my unpublished poems have been accepted for the forthcoming anthology Prairie Gold: An Anthology of the American Heartland published by Ice Cube Press. You can peruse a complete list of the poetry, fiction, and nonfiction contributors and titles HERE.

Thank you editors Lance M. Sacknoff, Xavier Cavazos, and Stefanie Brook Trout!

New Pages Mention

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The good folks at New Pages have singled out my poem “Creation Myth” for mention in their new review of Prairie Schooner‘s Fall 2013 Issue (Vol. 83 Issue 3). Here are the kind words that reviewer Kenneth Nichols has to say:

Christopher Citro’s poem “Creation Myth” includes a number of powerful images. The narrator begins by describing a rural scene: “Overgrown weeds had hidden the car until / the brushfire revealed it. Once the doors cooled, / neighborhood kids came to investigate . . .” The car is occupied by a man and woman in formalwear. Those children receive a potent lesson in a few different kinds of “creation.” Citro’s poem distinguishes itself with the strength of the imagery and the interesting way in which Citro allows the reader to slide into the perspective of Timmy, one of the children whose understanding of the world is being changed by what he sees.

You can read the rest of the review HERE, along with reviews of current issues of Ploughshares, The MacGuffin,  Green Mountains Review, Indiana Review, Willows Springs, and more.

You can read the whole poem, which Prairie Schooner made available online, HERE.

Thank you Kenneth Nichols and New Pages!